‘The Wonder Years’: Dulé Hill To Star In ABC Reboot Pilot; Laura Kariuki Also Cast

Psych alum Dulé Hill is set as a lead opposite Elisha “EJ” Williams and Saycon Sengbloh in ABC’s The Wonder Years single-camera comedy reboot pilot. Additionally, newcomer Laura Kariuki (Black Lightning) is set as a series regular in the reboot from Dave exec producer Saladin Patterson, Fred Savage and Empire co-creator Lee Daniels.

Written by Patterson and directed by Savage, the reboot of the classic 1980s family comedy-drama is set in the same era as the original. It looks at how the Williamses, a Black middle-class family in Montgomery, AL, in the turbulent late 1960s made sure it was the Wonder Years for them too.

Hill will play Bill Williams, Dean’s (Elisha Williams) dad. He’s a music professor by day and a funk musician by night – described by Adult Dean as “The baddest guy I knew.” Almost always calm and composed, his favorite words are “be cool.” Bill wants his family and their black, middle class neighborhood to remain self-sufficient and he puts his money where his mouth is.

Kariuki is Kim Williams, Dean’s teenage sister, Kim is confident, bright and popular. She and Dean bicker as siblings do but they have a good relationship. Her parents have her preparing for college – but Kim is starting to rebel, telling them “Bobby Seale and H. Rap Brown didn’t even finish college” and that she’ll learn more from Eldridge Cleaver’s “Soul on Ice” than the SAT’s.

Patterson and Savage executive produce along with Daniels and Marc Velez via Lee Daniels Entertainment. The original series’ co-creator Neal Marlens serves as a consultant. 20th Television is the studio.

Hill is known for his role of Burton ‘Gus’ Guster in the USA Network comedy Psych which ran for eight seasons, and he also served as a producer of the series. He currently can be seen opposite Chiwetel Ejiofor and Anne Hathaway in the HBO Max heist film Locked Down and will next be seen in the Netflix film Hypnotic. His previous TV credits include the role of Alex Williams in the USA Network drama Suits, the role of Charlie Young in The West Wing, the HBO series Ballers with Dwayne Johnson and a starring role in J.D. Dillard’s drama Sleight. He’s repped by ICM Partners, Washington Square Films and Fuller Law.

Newcomer Kariuki graduated this past May from Oklahoma City University and was immediately cast in the ABC Discovers Showcase by ABC executives. She is currently appearing as one of the lead heroes in the fourth and final season of DC’s Black Lightning on The CW. Kariuki is repped by A3 Artists Agency.