Nellie Andreeva

EXCLUSIVE: Molly Shannon is reuniting with Mike White, signing on for a recurring role on the upcoming second season of White’s HBO series Enlightened. The single-camera comedy stars Laura Dern as Amy, a self-destructive woman who has a spiritual awakening and decides to live an enlightened life, which creates havoc at home and work. In a role written for her by White, Shannon will play Eileen, the loyal executive assistant to the CEO of Abaddonn. In Amy’s mission to blow the whistle on Abaddonn’s corporate malfeasance, Eileen is unwittingly duped into providing damning information about her boss. Eileen also becomes a romantic interest for Tyler, played by White. This marks the third collaboration between Shannon and White. She previously starred in his movie Year Of The Dog and his Fox series Cracking Up. Shannon has an existing relationship with HBO. The Saturday Night Live alumna recently was attached to a comedy project in development at the network about a former nun, which was written by Tim Long. After struggling in the ratings in its first season, Enlightened picked up momentum in the last couple of months with a renewal by HBO and two Golden Globe nominations, including best comedy series, and a best comedy actress win for Dern. Shannon, repped by Gersh and Framework, next voices a lead character in the Adam Sandler/Sony animated feature Hotel Transylvania.

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