Jennifer Garner is returning to television.
More than a decade after Alias wrapped its run, the 45-year-old actress will star in a new HBO comedy series from Girls team Lena Dunham and Jenni Konner, the premium network announced Thursday. Garner will topline the eight-episode, half-hour limited series, Camping, which begins production this spring in Los Angeles.
Here is the official logline for Camping, which is based on the British series by Julia Davis: "Walt’s 45th birthday was supposed to be a delightful weekend back to nature, at least according to his obsessively organized and aggressively controlling wife Kathryn (Garner). But when the camping trip gathers Kathryn’s meek sister, holier than thou ex-best friend and a free-spirited Tagalong in one place, it becomes a weekend of tested marriages and woman on woman crime that won’t soon be forgotten. Plus, bears."
Garner will play Kathryn Siddell-Bauers, a controlling L.A. mom who is far less cheerful than her Lululemons imply. Kathryn controls the proceedings with an iron grip until she’s faced with a woman who undoes all her best laid plans.
Konner and Dunham called Garner's character “messy, tough and provocative and really, really fun." "We love Jennifer’s restraint and comedic timing, and we can’t wait for the warmth and intelligence she’ll bring to our central character, Kathryn," the showrunners said in a statement. "It’s truly a dream to have her first on our call sheet. Now we just have to write her some stunts.”
This is a coup for HBO, as Garner has largely stayed away from TV and focused her attention on film ever since she hung up her colorful wigs as super-spy Sydney Bristow in theJ.J. Abrams-created ABC action drama, Alias, which ran for five seasons from 2001 to 2006. She won a Golden Globe in 2002 for her role and is a four-time Emmy nominee. After bidding farewell to her beloved character, Garner lent her voice to the animated kids Netflix program, Llama Llama, and appeared on a 2008 episode of PBS' Great Performances.
Garner can next be seen in the upcoming film, Love, Simon, opposite Josh Duhamel, Katherine Langford and Nick Robinson, and is currently in production on Peppermint, with John Gallagher Jr. and Richard Cabral.
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