We now know why the character of Donna Gable was killed off of the CBS comedy “Kevin Can Wait.”
Star Kevin James has broken his silence about the storyline death which made way for a reunion with his “The King of Queens” costar Leah Remini.
“I get that people are like ‘Whoa, why would you do this,” James recently told the New York Daily News. “But it really felt like a thing like this was needed for this show to drive forward.”
Erinn Hayes portrayed James’s onscreen wife in the series and fans were surprised when news broke this summer that she would not be returning for season 2.
According to James, the series was originally written to feature his character, retired police officer Kevin Gable, as a single father but producers decided to instead make him a family man.
But after the first season, James said, “The plot of the show didn’t have enough drive.”
“If we got through a second season, I wouldn’t see us getting through a third one,” he said. “We were literally just running out of ideas.”
One idea that panned out was bringing Remini, who played his wife on “The King of Queens,” on last season for a two-part finale in a guest role as Gable’s former police partner, Vanessa Cellucci.
“Fans loved it, everybody on the crew loved it,” James said. “We just knew right away, so we thought, ‘How can we get her here full-time to be on the show?'”
The second season of “Kevin Can Wait” kicked off on September 25.