How ‘The ‘Burbs’ Creator Manifested Keke Palmer to Star in Her Dark Comedy

Celeste Hughey knew from the jump that Keke Palmer was the necessary piece to make her “The ‘Burbs” reboot pop. 

The multi-hyphenate has become ubiquitous for her quippy one-liners, quick wit and range of talent. For the “Dead to Me” writer, Palmer was the perfect star for her reimagining of the Tom Hanks 1989 film. 

“Keke is who I saw as the star from moment one, she is the only person I wanted to play this role,” Hughey told TheWrap. “When I wrote it, I wrote it to her as a love letter to her and her abilities as an actress – both comedic and dramatic.”

The Peacock original series pays homage to the original film – both set in Hinkley Hills with a quirky group of neighbors in the cul-de-sac. Both the film and the streaming series even shot on the same Universal lot. 

But one key difference is in the series’ star. Palmer plays Samira Fisher, a newlywed and new mother, who has moved to Hinkley Hills and Ashfield Place at the request of her husband who was born and raised in the suburb. Being a Black woman in a predominantly white suburb, Samira faces microaggressions and even racial profiling all within the first episode. 

Hughey did not want to shy away from these realities of suburban life when reimagining the series.  

“It’s a Black woman moving into a majority white neighborhood, and she’s a new mother and dealing with some postpartum and so I wanted to make sure that angle felt real,” she said. “But I also always really like to approach heavier themes with levity as well.”

Palmer, who is also an executive producer on the series, said that these motifs attracted her to the role. As a new mother herself, she reveled in the opportunity to display postpartum paranoia on-screen. She noted too that she appreciated how Hughey placed nuance in the neighborly stereotypes explored in the show. 

“I wanted to make sure that while we point to those cliché or the expected thoughts or archetypes of the people in this town that we really didn’t play the easy way out with it,” she told TheWrap. “The balance of playing with those clichés, or the ideas that you may have about a Black woman in town, or Julia [Duffy]’s character, who you might look at as a Karen, or even Paula playing into the clichés of what people assume about a lesbian in the suburbs.”

“You think you know these archetypes, but then the whole point of the show is to expand upon that and to humanize these people,” she added. 

“The ’Burbs” features a strong comedic ensemble in the murder mystery series. Samira grows suspicious of the creepy Victorian house across the street — and even of her husband, Rob (Jack Whitehall), due to his nonchalance about the home’s dark history.

With help from her kooky neighbors, including “Newhart” star Julia Duffy, “SNL” alum Paula Pell and “What We Do in the Shadows” actor Mark Proksch, Samira sets out to build a case to protect her newborn and her family.

“It was important for me to create these characters who all had their own secrets, their shames, their unique quirks, their weirdness that they bring to the table,” Hughey said of the rag tag group on the cul-de-sac. “They all felt authentic. I think audience members will be able to see themselves in a character, and also want to hang out with these characters.”

All eight episodes of “The ‘Burbs” are available to stream on Peacock now.

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