Desperate times
Mother works for Las Vegas gangsters in ‘The Cleaning Lady’
Many parents would do anything for their children, but one desperate mother goes to extreme lengths for her sick son and risks everything to keep him safe in a thrilling new prime-time drama.
French actress Elodie Yung (“Daredevil”) portrays Thony De La Rosa, a brilliant Cambodian doctor who travels to the United States in the hopes of saving her ailing son in “The Cleaning Lady,” premiering Monday, Jan. 3, on Fox. However, due to a series of unfortunate events, Thony soon becomes a “cleaning lady” for some very dangerous people as she uses her medical knowledge to help them get away with murder.
The new Fox drama is part of the growing trend of importing international shows and revamping them for North American audiences. “The Cleaning Lady” is based on the 2017 Argentinian hit “La Chica Que Limpia,” which was also hugely successful when it was remade for Mexican audiences under the name “La Muchacha que limpia.”
Fox’s version hails from writer Miranda Kwok (“The 100”), who also serves as an executive producer alongside Melissa Carter (“Queen Sugar”), Shay Mitchell (“Pretty Little Liars”), Television Academy of Arts & Sciences member Rose Marie Vega, talent manager David Dean Portelli and late “La Chica Que Limpia” executive producer Paola Suárez. Carter, who is the showrunner for “The Cleaning Lady,” described the series in an exclusive November interview with ET.
“’The Cleaning Lady’ is a darkly aspirational character drama about a whip-smart doctor who comes to the U.S. for a medical treatment to save her ailing son,” Carter explained. “But when the system fails her, she refuses to be pushed into the shadows. A heartwarming family drama with heart-stopping thriller moments, Thony De La Rosa is our ‘Alice in Wonderland’ who guides us through the glitzy glamour of Las Vegas while navigating the dark underbelly of the criminal world.”
In the series debut, Thony leaves her husband in the Philippines and travels to the United States with their son, Luca (played by new-to-thescene twins Sebastian and Valentino Lasalle), who suffers from a rare immunodeficiency disorder. She is hopeful that she has found a bone marrow donor, but when things don’t work out and her visa expires, she finds work as a cleaning lady alongside her Filipino sister-in-law, Fiona (Martha Millan, “The OA”).
Things get even worse when Thony finds herself in the wrong place at the wrong time. After she witnesses a mob murder, she makes a deal to use her medical knowledge to “clean” crime scenes and erase evidence of mob crimes in a desperate bid to stay alive.
Adan Canto (“Designated Survivor”) stars as Arman Morales, the lieutenant of the powerful crime syndicate that recruits Thony. Determined to stay one step ahead of the law so that she can save her son, Thony leads a double life and keeps secrets from her family. All the while, smooth-talking FBI Agent Garrett Miller (Oliver Hudson, “Scream Queens”) keeps her on her toes.
Other key players in the diverse cast of characters include Isabel Barsamian (Shiva Negar, “American Assassin,” 2017), a mobster’s daughter who appears to have a storied past with Arman, and Jay Mohr (“Saturday Night Live”), who has been tapped to play recurring character Coun. Eric Knight, a corrupt politician running for mayor who has ties to Isabel’s family.
Given the success of the original show and its Mexican spinoff, “The Cleaning Lady” looks promising for Fox. However, the show had a bit of a bumpy ride into prime time.
Warner Bros. Television Studios first acquired the rights to make an English-language adaptation back in 2019. The pilot was first ordered for Fox’s 2020-21 slate, but the show’s premiere was pushed into the 202122 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Filming faced multiple delays, but it had finally resumed by February 2021 in New Mexico.
There was a bit of a housecleaning for “The Cleaning Lady” before the show even got underway, however. Shannyn Sossamon (“A Knight’s Tale,” 2001), who was initially tapped to star in the series, left the show after the pilot table read. The role was tweaked for Yung, trying to reflect her Cambodian roots while maintaining some Filipino characters.
Yung wasn’t the only replacement: Millan replaced Ginger Gonzaga (“Togetherness,” 2015) as Fiona, while Vincent Piazza (“Boardwalk Empire”) had been cast as an FBI agent but dropped out due to creative reasons, paving the way for Hudson to take on a similar role.
The recurring roles of Thony’s niece, Jaz (Faith Bryant, “Piano Lessons,” 2021), and nephew, Chris (Sean Lew, “Step Up China,” 2015), were also promoted to series-regular roles partway through production.
“The Cleaning Lady” shines a spotlight on current social issues in America as Thony is forced into a life of crime in an effort to save her boy, and indeed some of television’s most captivating characters are those who do the wrong things for the right reasons.
The official Fox news release promises that she will “forge her own path in the criminal underworld,” and even though Thony’s helping ruthless people get away with terrible things, viewers will likely root for her just the same.
Don’t miss the premiere of “The Cleaning Lady” when it airs Monday, Jan. 3, on Fox.