Kevin James returned to CBS at the start of the season with new sitcom "Kevin Can Wait," playing the lead, Kevin Gable, a cop who plans to spend his retirement with his family and friends, but realizes that it may not be as easy as he thought it would be. James has been supplying his new sitcom with his famous friends, including Ray Romano and Adam Sandler. Now for the season 1 finale, former "King Of Queens" wife, Leah Remini will reunite with James as an old rival of Kevin's. Its been nearly 10 years since the CBS sitcom went off the air, after a nine year run from 1998 to 2007.
James and Remini to pose as a married couple
The finale will center on Kevin Gable (James) coming out of retirement to reprise an old undercover assignment with his old rival and fellow cop, Vanessa Cellucci (Leah Remini). To make matters worse, the duo will be posing as a married couple. A sneak peek shows the pair visiting a wealthy home in order to take down a criminal, but things take a turn when they break a giraffe figurine so they chew gum in order to fix it. Remini lovingly dubbed the posing couple as literally Doug and Carrie (from "King of Queens") as cops.
Erinn Hayes (who plays "Kevin Can Wait" wife, Donna) teases that her character and Vanessa will bond over shared grievances they have about their "husband." The two-part finale will also serve changes that will set up season 2: Donna will be up for promotion, Kendra (Taylor Spreitler) will be accepted into law school, and Chale (Ryan Cartwright) will receive a new job.
As for Chale and Kendra's wedding, that will be addressed further next season.
The cast on Leah Remini's guest appearance
Kevin James shared that they had been waiting for the perfect opportunity to bring Leah Remini on board the CBS sitcom, and continued with how, when she agreed to the role, he did a happy dance. James didn't want to bring her on for simply a funny cameo, instead, he wanted to show what made their dynamic special on "King of Queens." Remini added that she was honored and touched to have been invited onto the show to be on such an important episode of the season.
James had no intention of breaking the fourth wall with some sort of dream sequence where she would play the role of Carrie, which he says was selfishness on his part, because a dream would mean she couldn't return.
Erinn Hayes describes Leah Remini as lovely, and told a story of how the actress sent her a bouquet of flowers with a note that thanked her for having her on the show.
Hayes also shared that she would love to see more brash females on the show next season to go toe to toe with Kevin and Donna Gable.
The reunion two-part finale, entitled "Sting of Queens" will air part 1 on May 1, and part 2 on May 8 on CBS.
