Why a 30 Rock spin-off isn't going to happen as planned

While fans and cast members have been clamouring for a 30 Rock revival for a while, it turns out a spin-off was actually pretty close to happening recently.

Last month it was confirmed that The Good Place star Ted Danson had landed his next TV role in a new NBC series created by 30 Rock's Tina Fey and Robert Carlock, but according to The Hollywood Reporter, that series initially started as a planned spin-off show.

The publication reports that Alec Baldwin was in talks to return as Jack Donaghy in a spin-off series for Comcast's forthcoming streaming service, which would have followed Donaghy in his new role as mayor of New York.

Related: Tina Fey wants 30 Rock to crossover with Parks and Recreation

Baldwin was reportedly in negotiations for the show for nearly a year before he ultimately pulled out of the project, prompting Fey and Carlock to approach Danson to take over the role as his new show The Good Place prepares to wrap up with its fourth season.

However, THR adds that when Danson declined to move to New York for the project, Fey and Carlock reworked the script to set the show on the West Coast and also removed any connections that it had to 30 Rock.

The as-yet-untitled series has since been given a straight to series order from NBC, but no premiere date has yet been announced.

What we do know, however, is that the show will be about "a wealthy businessman who runs for mayor of Los Angeles for all the wrong reasons".

"Once he wins he has to figure out what he stands for, gain the respect of his staff and connect with his teenage daughter, all while controlling the coyote population," the synopsis continues.

Last year. Tina addressed rumours of a 30 Rock revival series by saying that she must have been "thirsty for attention".

"A little bit of that is on me. I must have been so thirsty for internet attention," she said about the reports at the time.

"Who knows? Robert Carlock and I, we would never do a straight reboot, that would be too easy. I don't know, we'd try to think of a way to do something. We could do a prequel like Muppet Babies, or set in a dystopian future where there's a lot of robot sex.

"If we get anything together, I promise you'll be the first to know!"

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Stephanie Chase

Reporter, Digital Spy  

Stephanie is a freelance news writer, who previously covered WWE and AEW for Digital Spy.

After graduating with a degree in history from Queen Mary University, London, she studied journalism at Birkbeck University.

Outside of her work at Digital Spy, she writes about pop culture, with a special focus towards Irish media and how it intersects with politics.

You can read more of her work on her Substack page.

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