Kel Penn To Star In Belated For FX, Where, Much Like His Own Life, Plays A Recently Outted Man Finding His Truth In His 40's
In a moment of art imitating life, actor Kal Penn has joined the cast of the new FX series Belated. The show revolves around a successful pediatrician named Owen who has a major life upheaval when he realizes after years of marriage and having a child that he is gay. What makes this project so personal to Penn is the mirror the show has in terms of his own experience as a recently outed gay man in his 40's which made headlines not long ago after the release of his memoir You Can't Be Serious and the news of his engagement to his partner of 11 years.
The pilot, which was written, executive produced, and directed by Peter Tolan, who rose to fame as the co-creator of Rescue Me and The Job for FX. Much like Penn, Tolan himself came out later in life, prompting him to create Belated.
On the show, Owen is a mildly sarcastic doctor working at a prestigious New York hospital who thought he had his life in order, with a great wife, a child and an idyllic house in Connecticut. After hooking up with another man, Owen is forced to question who he really is and ultimately decides to live his truth. The series will find him navigating his newly found sense of self, while trying to co-parent with his ex-wife Diana. In an interesting side-plot, Owen finds himself befriending a 17-year-old trans teen named Clay who is integral in helping Owen come to grips with his new found life.
Belated is only in the pilot stage for now and no release date has been scheduled for the series. Whenever Belated comes to television, rest assured that the show will be a labor of love for both creator and star.
