Kumail Nanjiani will enter “The Twilight Zone.”
CBS announced on Thursday that the “Big Sick” and “Silicon Valley” actor will star in an upcoming episode of Jordan Peele’s reboot of the classic science fiction series for CBS All Access.
Nanjiani becomes the third cast member to board Peele’s “Twilight Zone,” joining Sanaa Lathan and Adam Scott. Nanjiani’s episode will be written by “Key & Peele” and “Community” alum Alex Rubens. Peele is executive producing and narrating, stepping into the role that Rod Serling made famous. You can get a taste of what Peele’s narration will sound like here.
The new series, which is eyeing a 2019 debut, will be produced by CBS Television Studios in association with Peele’s Monkeypaw Productions and Simon Kinberg’s Genre Films. Peele and Kinberg serve as executive producers along with Win Rosenfeld, Audrey Chon, Carol Serling, Rick Berg and Greg Yaitanes.
Serling created the original series, which ran for 80 episodes from 1959 to 1964, and used socially-conscious storytelling to explore the human condition and culture of the times. There have been two prior revivals of the classic series. The first reboot aired for 110 episodes on CBS in 1985, and a second version, with Forest Whitaker in Serling’s role, ran for 43 episodes on UPN in the early 2000s.
Nanjiani is best known for his starring role in “The Big Sick,” which he co-wrote with his wife, Emily V. Gordon, and is based on the two’s real-life relationship. It earned Nanjiani an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay. He also has starred as Dinesh Chugtai on HBO’s “Silicon Valley” since 2013.