In yet another announcement in a long string of new HBO series in developments, THR reports that the network has picked up the Laura Dern and Mike White comedy series “Enlightened.” The network has ordered an additional nine episodes beyond the pilot for a first season of ten total half-hour episodes.
The series, starring Dern and executive produced by both her and White, revolves around Dern as a woman named Amy who, “has a revelatory experience at a treatment center and becomes determined to live an enlightened life, creating unexpected havoc at home and work.” White directed the pilot, marking this outing as the second time he has directed Dern since his first and currently only feature “Year of the Dog.” The pilot also stars Luke Wilson, Sarah Burns, and Dern’s mother Diane Ladd. It is currently unclear whether these supporting roles will continue throughout the season.
The series is slated to begin filming in the summer. We guess that it might premiere sometime early next year, assuming that the second season of HBO’s “Bored To Death” gets the fall comedy slot as it did last year. “Enlightened” will join “Tilda” as another comedy in HBO’s upcoming list of new programming amidst more serious fare such as Martin Scorsese’s 1920s Atlantic City gangster series “Boardwalk Empire,” Michael Mann’s “Luck” and David Fincher and Charlize Theron’s FBI crime drama “Mind Hunter.”