Disney Channel has already given a second season order to “Gabby Duran & the Unsittables,” its new single-camera comedy that doesn’t premiere its first season until this Friday, Oct. 11.
“Gabby Duran” stars young singer and actress Kylie Cantrall as a 13-year-old who moves to a new town and winds up with an unusual babysitting job, looking after a group of extraterrestrial children hiding out on earth and posing as everyday kids.
Production on Season 2 of the show starts next February in Vancouver. “‘Gabby Duran & The Unsittables’ gives us a bold new heroine, brought to life by the incredibly talented Kylie Cantrall and our top-notch creative team led by showrunners Mike Alber and Gabe Snyder,” said Kory Lunsford, Disney Channel’s vice president of current series.
Alber and Snyder (“Kirby Buckets”) executive produce with Joe Nussbaum (“Just Add Water”).
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“We like to do comedy with a high-concept hook to it,” Alber said. “It’s fun to explore these classic coming of age stories but different than you’ve seen before, so we can put a twist on it.”
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Alber also touted the show’s representation, starting with Cantrall as the show’s Latinx star. “I think it’s good to have another role model for kids to see themselves on screen,” he said. “Once we cast her, we knew we could make this part of the richness of this character.”
The series is based on the novel “Gabby Duran & the Unsittables,” written by Elise Allen and Daryle Conners. In adapting the book, Snyder said the character became a lot less responsible, but has an edge that still makes her the ideal candidate to look after a group of misfit alien kids.
“If it’s a comedy about someone watching kids, you need them to not be very good at watching kids,” he said. “Disney has been very supportive. They’ve let us keep a little bit of edge to Gabby.”
In keeping “Gabby Duran” single-camera, Nussbaum said it “allows you to do another level of special effects, which kids I think have come to expect.”
Also starring is Maxwell Acee Donovan (“Good Kids”) as Gabby’s friend Wesley; Coco Christo (“We Take the Low Road”) as her overachieving sister Olivia; Nathan Lovejoy (“The Code”) as Principal Swift; Valery Ortiz (“Switched at Birth”) as Gabby’s career-driven mother Dina; and Callan Farris (“Kings”) as Jeremy, a shape-shifting alien and Gabby’s first babysitting assignment. Gabby Productions, Ltd., a subsidiary of Omnifilm Entertainment, Ltd., is behind the show.
