The former 'Modern Family' actress has been tapped to play the lead on the potential comedy series after the 'Heart Attack' singer stepped away from acting duties due to scheduling conflicts.
- Mar 7, 2022
AceShowbiz - Ariel Winter is set to star on "Hungry". The former "Modern Family" actress has been tapped to play the lead on NBC's upcoming comedy pilot after Demi Lovato decided to ditch their acting duties due to scheduling conflicts.
Announcing the news was Deadline on Sunday, March 6. The outlet also reported that the "Heart Attack" singer will still be on board as an executive producer of the show, which will finally go into production this coming week, alongside Sean Hayes, Todd Milliner, Scott Manson and James Shin. It's said that a table read will be held on Tuesday, March 8.
Demi's decision to drop the lead role came as the show was about to start production, forcing the network to swiftly recast just so scheduling for "Hungry" won't be affected. Sources also informed the outlet that the rest of the cast would still be the same.
"Hungry", which will be directed by James Burrows and is written by Suzanne Martin, follows a group of friends who are part of a food issues support group. Together, they find ways to succeed and help each other as they go about looking for love and perfect comfort food to make it all better.
The show was handed a pilot order in April 2021. However, NBC said in May that "Hungry" was one of their projects they were rolling over to the 2021-2022 TV season or possibly the 2022-2023 season. While the show was initially conceived as a single-camera project, it was revamped as a multi-camera project, leading to director James taking the helm for the pilot.
Then in June last year, the network started rounding out the cast. The confirmed cast includes "Insatiable" actress Ashley D. Kelley, "Hot in Cleveland" star Valerie Bertinelli, Anna Akana from "A Million Little Things", "Mr. Iglesias" star Gabriel Iglesias and "Chuck" actor Ryan McPartlin.
As for Ariel, aside from the very successful "Modern Family", she was known for voicing the title character on Disney Jr.'s animated series "Sofia the First". Her other TV credits include "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit", "Robot Chicken" and "Elena of Avalor".
