Kevin James says he’s ambivalent about reviving “The King of Queens“— for one reason particularly.
“I would never say never,” James told The Post. “They were asking me about [reviving] ‘King of Queens’ and I don’t think that’s possible because a 3rd of that big core forged is gone.”
James was referring to Jerry Stiller, who played oddball father-in-law Arthur Spooner on the top-rated CBS series, which aired from 1998-2007 (over 207 episodes) with James and Leah Remini within the lead roles as Rego Park UPS employee Doug Heffernan and his wife, Carrie.
Stiller, who died in May 2020 on the age of 92, got here into “The King of Queens” fresh off his run on “Seinfeld,” where he played George’s (Jason Alexander) cranky father, Frank Costanza, opposite Estelle Harris as George’s mother, Estelle.
He garnered a 1997 Emmy nomination as Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series for the role.
“Jerry Stiller was such an incredible a part of that show,” James said. “To me, it would be hard to do it without him and I don’t know the way that would work.”
James didn’t completely write off the thought of doing a “King of Queens” reboot, nevertheless.
“It might work — they did it with ‘Frasier’ [on Paramount+] … nevertheless it depends upon the show and the story and if there’s more to inform or for those who’re just getting back together to get back together,” he said. “It’s tough to recapture that nostalgia, it truly is.
“[‘The King of Queens’] was a moment in time and that was just so great, and I miss it and loved it — nevertheless it is perhaps hard to get that back again.”
In 2006, James received an Emmy nomination for “The King of Queens” as Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series. The award that 12 months went to Tony Shalhoub for USA’s “Monk.”
The show’s forged also included Patton Oswalt as Doug’s friend Spence Olchin, Victor Williams as Deacon Palmer, Doug’s best friend and co-worker, Larry Romano as Doug’s pal Richie Iannucci and James’ real-life brother, Gary Valentine as Doug’s cousin, Danny Heffernan.