Laverne Cox compared the cancellation of her Amazon Prime Video series Clean Slate to taking “a dagger to [her] heart.”
“I’m still processing [the cancellation],” Cox, 52, exclusively told Us Weekly at the opening of The Tryst Puerto Vallarta on Friday, April 25. “We found out a few weeks before we announced it and I cried like a baby.”
Clean Slate — which Cox created and produced with costar George Wallace and Dan Ewen — revolved around 40-year-old Desiree (Cox) returning to her small Alabama hometown to come out as a trans woman to her father (Wallace) after a 23-year estrangement. Cox confirmed earlier in April that Prime Video was not moving forward with a second season.
“Of course, I’ve had shows canceled before, but I’ve never birthed a show, a scripted television show. It’s been like it was my baby more than any other scripted project I’ve been a part of,” she confessed to Us. “So, it was just so close and it was loosely based on my life. So, it was devastating, and I think it was also devastating in the context of being, I think allegedly, I’m the first trans person, a star in a comedy. I saw that somewhere. I haven’t [confirmed it] — it’s sad, but it’s not unexpected in the current political environment, but it’s just sad in relationship to that.”
Aside from the “gut punch” of Clean Slate ending so soon, Cox said she was appreciative of the viewers who truly embraced the sitcom’s inclusive message.
“The fans who loved it, what I do want to do is shout out the fans who have been amazing online. Amazing,” she said. “When I go out into the world, how many people have watched it without me prompting them. People just all over the country and all over the world who’ve watched it are loving it and are asking for a season two. I’m sorry, it’s not my fault.”
Cox said she hasn’t yet given up hope of finding Clean Slate a new streaming or TV home, as she planned to “shop it elsewhere.”
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“It’s really about that connection with the audience. And you can touch one person and we touched more than one person with our show,” she added. “And so that brings me so much joy. I’m gutted personally, but then I go out in the world and we’ve made people laugh and we’ve made people think and we’ve had people like [say], ‘That’s my grandmama, that’s my auntie. Oh girl.’”
She went on, “People are seeing themselves in these characters and this is a dream for an artist. So, it’s a huge accomplishment to get a TV show on the air, as well. So, I’m literally processing this with you. So, it’s a miracle that we made it to TV, and so I have so much to be grateful for … Our fans have just [shared] the love and that is really what it’s all about. The community.”
As for what could be next in her career, Cox told Us that the experience of doing a sitcom has convinced her to take on even more challenging projects.
“Doing comedy was so freeing for me in other aspects of my work and in advocacy, and I’m just, I’ve given myself permission to let go and be funny,” she said. “Doing a show with George Wallace, doing press with George Wallace, giving myself permission to be silly and leaning into that and laughter along with that can exist with other things. So, I mean, honestly, at this stage as an artist, as an actress, I want to do something that really challenges me.”
Cox continued, “I feel like I’ve not realized my potential as an artist, so I need something really challenging to let the children know that she’s an actress. And so something completely transformative. I have two movies. One was announced, Animal Farm, the remake of Animal Farm, that’s animated [and] I play Snowball, that was just announced. We don’t know where that home is going to be. And I have another movie called Outcome with Keanu Reeves, and that is coming out, probably, later this year.”
The Emmy Award-nominated actress added that she hoped to “do something really different” after Clean Slate — preferably a project she could produce.
“I’m thinking of something that’s just completely [new], I feel like I need to play a man or something. I don’t know … because people know Laverne now, and so I need to disappear into something,” she teased. “The next thing I do, I want to completely disappear into it. So ,yeah, I’m looking forward to that. I don’t know what it is yet, but I want to disappear. And so the people can really get into the talent again and get into the craft and the acting.”
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Cox announced another big career shift in January when she exited E!’s award show red carpet coverage after three years of interviewing the biggest stars in Hollywood.
“With an incredible amount of gratitude, I’ve decided not to return as host of #LiveFromE’s red carpet coverage,” Cox wrote via Instagram on January 2. “I’m so incredibly proud of the work we did over my three-year tenure. I’d like to express my sincere thanks to everyone at @nbcuniversal, @eentertainment and @denofthievestv for your incredible support.”
