In 2011, after eight seasons of starring as the lead character Charlie Harper in the popular television sitcom Two and a Half Men, Charlie Sheen was fired for making belittling comments about Chuck Lorre, who co-created the show and was one of its executive producers.
Now, 12 years later, Sheen and Lorre are reuniting on a new Max comedy series titled How To Be a Bookie, according to a Deadline report. The show, created by Lorre who co-wrote the script with Nick Bakay, will star Sheen as a yet-to-be-announced recurring character.
Sheen’s shift on Two and a Half Men brought him much success, including four Emmy nominations and two Golden Globe nominations. When Sheen was fired, he was struggling with a recurring drug problem that saw him in rehabilitation three times in 12 months. In retaliation for his dismissal, he launched a $100 million lawsuit against Lorre and Warner Bros. TV, which was eventually settled. In 2021, Sheen stated he could have handled the situation differently and expressed regret over his past actions.
In the years since his exit from Two and a Half Men, Sheen has had lead roles in the FX sitcom Anger Management, which aired for two seasons and 100 episodes, and the 2017 ensemble film 9/11. He has also had a guest role in the ABC television sitcom The Goldbergs.
The new series, How To Be a Bookie, will feature The Irishman star Sebastian Maniscalco as the lead character Danny.
According to the Deadline report, Maniscalco’s character is a veteran bookie who must fight to survive “the impending legalization of sports gambling, increasingly unstable clients, family, co-workers, and a lifestyle that bounces him around every corner of Los Angeles high and low.”
Apart from Maniscalco and Sheen, How To Be a Bookie will also star Omar J. Dorsey, Jorge Garcia, Andrea Anders, Vanessa Ferlito, and Maxim Swinton, among others. Lorre will direct the season’s pilot episode and serve an executive producer along with Nick Bakay, Maniscalco, Andy Tennant, and Judy Marmel. Tennant will double as a director with several episodes set to be helmed by him.
By the way, How To Be a Bookie is not the only new show in the works for Warner Bros. Discovery’s new streaming platform Max neither is it the only one from Lorre. Earlier this month, the entertainment behemoth revealed it is working on a Big Bang Theory spinoff in collaboration with Lorre. It also confirmed it has greenlit a television adaptation of its highly successful Harry Potter film series.
How To Be a Bookie is currently in production with eight episodes ordered by Max and WBTV. No release date has been announced but we expect this to change as production progresses.
