“The View” co-host Raven-Symoné is leaving the daytime panel-discussion show to star in a sequel series to her 2000s Disney Channel hit “That’s So Raven.”
Disney said Thursday that she and the cable network are developing a sitcom in which Raven-Symoné, 30, would reprise her role as Raven Baxter, last seen as a teenager with psychic abilities on the 2003-07 series. The actress-singer herself announced on “The View” Thursday that, “The other side of it is, is that I’m going to be leaving here. I’m going to be leaving … before the year is up.”
She prefaced the news of her departure by saying, “I’m excited and sad, but mostly excited. I have an announcement to make,” joking, “No, I’m not pregnant! So as you guys have noticed I’ve been here on Fridays mostly but that’s because I’ve been working internally with the Disney company. I have a really big surprise you guys … I used to do a show called ‘That’s So Raven’ and we’re doing a ‘That’s So Raven 2’! There’s no real title, there’s no title yet,” she added, “but I’m calling it ‘That’s So Raven 2.’”
Raven-Symoné, who will also be an executive producer on the new show, said auditions would be held nationwide for cast-members. Her character Raven Baxter is now a divorced mother of two pre-teen children, one of whom has inherited her ability to catch glimpses of the future. Developing the show are writer-producer partners Scott Thomas and Jed Elinoff, who created the current Disney Channel series “Best Friends Whenever” and were among the writers nominated for a 2014 Daytime Emmy Award for “R.L. Stine’s The Haunting Hour” on the Hub Network, now Discovery Family.
“That’s So Raven” was a Disney Channel hit that, according to Nielsen Media Research, still averaged 1.1 million viewers during midnight airings this past December to April.
