‘Desperate Housewives’ Revival: Decision Made on If It Will It Happen

Desperate Housewives creator Marc Cherry has some bad news for fans hoping the ABC primetime soap will join the revival trend sweeping through Hollywood today. During the CBS All Access panel during the Television Critics Association press tour Thursday, Cherry ruled out any chance for more Desperate Housewives. Cherry is hard at work on a new show, Why Women Kill.

“I did 180 episodes of Desperate Housewives, unlike a Sex and the City, which was on cable and didn’t do as many. I feel like I’ve done that, and in a weird way, I found a new way to do it because so many of themes that I get to deal with are on this show,” Cherry said, referring to his new show, reports Deadline.

Cherry said he also did not enjoy needing to come up with cliffhangers frequently during Desperate Housewives.

“[With Why Women Kill] it’s streaming and I do 10 episodes and it’s over,” the writer explained. “The thing I went through [with Desperate Housewives] that was so difficult was cliffhangers. ‘OK, I got to do a cliffhanger every year and their lives have to change completely’ — and, oh, God, that’s so hard.”

Cherry also said he enjoyed being able to have his characters curse on Why Women Kill, and being able to write stories traditional networks would shoot down.

“I was not allowed to do an abortion storyline, and I’ve seen many people do it — and on ABC, interestingly enough,” Cherry said. “It was going to be a new character, and it was going to be a new thing… That was swatted away so quickly.”

Desperate Housewives ran eight seasons from 2004 to 2012 on ABC. Teri Hatcher, Felicity Huffman, Marcia Cross, Eva Longoria, Nicollette Sheridan, Dana Delaney, Ricardo Antonio Chavira, Brenda Strong and James Denton starred on the series.

In the past, members of the cast have said they would be interested in a revival.

“I would jump at the chance to play Gaby Solis again. I miss her! I miss her skin and I miss being in her skin,” Longoria said in 2017. “The minute [creator] Marc Cherry says, ‘We’re going back,’ I would be the first one to sign up. I love that show, and I love the magic that we had.”

“I’d be the first person [to return],” Hatcher said last year. “I never wanted it to be over. I love those characters.”

Unfortunately, Cherry dashed those hopes with his comments on Thursday.

Why Women Kill runs 10 episodes and tells the story of three different women in different decades, with murder wrapped up in their stories. Ginnifer Goodwin plays a ’60s housewife, Lucy Liu stars as an ’80s socialite and Kirby Howell-Baptiste plays a 2018 lawyer.

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