FX has decided not to move forward with Peter Tolan‘s semi-autobiographical pilot for Belated, Variety reports. Talks of green-lighting the show were first discussed back in October 2021, and FX has yet to comment on the decision not to continue production. The creator of the hit comedy drama Rescue Me, wrote, executive produced, and directed the half-hour pilot that would have marked Tolan’s return to the FX family.
The cast for Belated starred Kal Penn (Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle) as Sachin, a man in his 40s who recently came out to his family. In the wake of his divorce, Sachin strikes up an “unexpected intergenerational friendship” with Clay, a 17-year-old transgender teen. The story would have followed both the friendship’s journey and Sachin’s adjustment to his new normal as he navigates the relationships with his ex-wife and children.
Tolan was in productions with FX for the comedy drama pilot, with Nick Alford of The Cloudland Company also executive producing. Other cast members included Kaden Kearney (Prodigal Son) as Clay, stand-up comedian and actress Ellie Taylor (Ted Lasso) as Sachin’s ex-wife and Amir Bageria and EaeMya ThynGi as their children.
Belated would have been Tolan’s resurgence with the network after his work on Resue Me, a comedy drama that followed firefighter Tommy Gavin, played by Denis Leary, as he dealt with the fears of both firefighting and seeing his ex-wife dating other men. The show, which was also written and directed by Tolan, awarded him three Emmy nominees and ran for a healthy seven seasons. Tolan also worked as a writer for The Larry Sanders Show in the ’90s which won him an Emmy for best writing in a comedy series.
If the premise of Belated appealed to you, FX has two other comedy pilots in the works. English Teacher, directed by Brian Jordan Alvarez, is a comedy that tracks the life of a gay high school English teacher, Evan, in Austin, Texas and his fellow teachers. Alvarez will play the lead character as he and his co-workers attempt to juggle the mounting pressures of both students and parents alike in the ever-changing school system. FX also has another half-hour project, untitled, from director and producer Lauren Ludwig (American Auto) that Deadline says is a “metaphysical comedy about a group of queer twenty-somethings forced by the most unlikely source to confront their generational anxieties and unpack their emotional baggage.”
You can catch Penn as the voice of Mikku in Disney’s Mira, Royal Detective. He’s also in pre-production for an upcoming project with Paramount Players, Something’s Wrong with Rose.
