''Clean Slate'' is an American sitcom co-created by and starring

Laverne Cox Laverne Cox (born May 29, 1972) is an American actress and LGBTQ advocate. She rose to prominence with her role as Sophia Burset on the Netflix series '' Orange Is the New Black'', becoming the first transgender person to be nominated for a ...

and

George Wallace George Corley Wallace Jr. (August 25, 1919 – September 13, 1998) was an American politician who was the 45th and longest-serving governor of Alabama (1963–1967; 1971–1979; 1983–1987), and the List of longest-serving governors of U.S. s ...

. The show centers on a woman (Cox) reuniting with her father (Wallace), whom she has not seen since her

gender transition Gender transition is the process of affirming and expressing one's internal sense of gender, rather than the sex assigned to them at birth. It is a recommended course of treatment for individuals experiencing gender dysphoria, providing impro ...

. The series premiered on

Prime Video Amazon Prime Video, known simply as Prime Video, is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming television service owned by Amazon. The service primarily distributes films and television series produced or co-produced by ...

on February 6, 2025 and received positive reception. In April 2025, the series was canceled after one season.

Synopsis

"The series follows Desiree (Cox), a 40 year old who’s returning to her small town in Alabama to reunite with her father Harry (Wallace) after 23 years away. Harry is excited to reunite with his son, and he has no idea that son is now Desiree—a proud trans woman."

Cast

as Desiree Slate, a trans woman reuniting with her father, Harry, in her small Alabama hometown after 23 years away *

as Harry Slate, a car wash owner and Desiree's father * Jay Wilkison as Mack, one of Harry's employees * Norah Murphy as Opal, Mack's daughter * D.K. Uzoukwu as Louis, Desiree's childhood best friend and the church choir director *

Telma Hopkins Telma Louise Hopkins (born October 28, 1948) is an American actress and pop singer. Hopkins rose to prominence as a member of the pop group Tony Orlando and Dawn, who had several number-one songs. She also performed on the CBS variety show ''T ...

as Ella, Louis' mother * Phillip Garcia as Miguel, Harry's neighbor

Episodes

Production

Development

The series was originally announced by

Peacock Peafowl is a common name for two bird species of the genus '' Pavo'' and one species of the closely related genus '' Afropavo'' within the tribe Pavonini of the family Phasianidae (the pheasants and their allies). Male peafowl are referred t ...

in January 2020 with

and

starring in leading roles.. Cox and Wallace are the creators and executive producers of the series with Dan Ewen. Ewen serves as a showrunner of the series with executive producer Simran Baidwan.

Norman Lear Norman Milton Lear (July 27, 1922December 5, 2023) was an American screenwriter and producer who produced, wrote, created, or developed over 100 shows. Lear created and produced numerous popular 1970s sitcoms, including ''All in the Family'' (1 ...

executive produced via his Act III Productions, along with Brent Miller. It was one of the last series produced by Norman Lear prior to his death in 2023. Paul Hilepo is a producer of the series.

Nisha Ganatra Nisha Ganatra (born June 25, 1974) is a Canadian-American film director, screenwriter, producer, and actress of Indian descent. She wrote, directed, and produced the independent comedy drama ''Chutney Popcorn'' (1999) and later directed the indepe ...

directed the series pilot. In February 2021, the series moved to

IMDB TV Amazon Freevee (stylized as freevee and fv, also shortened as Freevee, formerly known as IMDb Freedive and IMDb TV, and sometimes spelled FV) is an American ad-supported video-on-demand (VOD) streaming service owned by Amazon, with original an ...

(now known as Amazon Freevee). In September 2022, Amazon Freevee gave the series order. On December 2024, the series was announced to be moving from Amazon Freevee to

Amazon Prime Video Amazon Prime Video, known simply as Prime Video, is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming television service owned by Amazon. The service primarily distributes films and television series produced or co-produced by ...

Casting

In March 2023, it was announced that D.K. Uzoukwu,

, Jay Wilkison and Norah Murphy joined the cast as series regulars alongside Cox and Wallace.

Filming

The series was filmed largely in

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

Release

The series premiered on February 6, 2025 on

. It was cancelled in April after one season. Though no explanation was given, some media outlets speculated that its cancellation might be related to the second presidency of Donald Trump.

Reception

. In a positive review, Barry Levitt wrote in ''

The Daily Beast ''The Daily Beast'' is an American news website focused on politics, media, and pop culture. Founded in 2008, the website is owned by IAC Inc. It has been characterized as a "high-end tabloid" by Noah Shachtman, the site's editor-in-chief ...

'', "Clean Slate wisely challenges common conceptions of the American South...This Alabama town is filled with people who love Jesus, of course, but they also love family and everything in between. Not everyone in town is eager to embrace Desiree, but the vast majority of locals welcome her like she’s their own daughter." After noting the cultural relevance of a show about trans people "debuting at a moment when the current presidential administration is aggressively stripping trans people of their rights," Alan Sepinwall of ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

'' described the show as "content to be a simple, relatively old-fashioned family and friends comedy. But centering a sitcom like that around a trans character feels like an act of bold political protest, even if nobody meant it that way." Michele Theil wrote for ''

PinkNews ''PinkNews'' is a UK-based online newspaper marketed to the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning community (LGBTQ+) in the UK and worldwide. It was founded by Benjamin Cohen in July 2005, initially released in print, b ...

'' that Laverne Cox is ''Clean Slate'''s "shining star." In a less positive review, Daniel Feinberg described the series in ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...

'' as "more of a fantasy of societal understanding than an issue-oriented comedy, very rarely producing laughs but very frequently generating reasonably earned warm-fuzzies."

References

External links

* {{Amazon Video original series Works by Norman Lear 2025 American television series debuts 2025 American television series endings 2020s American LGBTQ-related sitcoms Television shows set in Alabama Amazon Prime Video original programming African-American television Transgender-related television shows American television series about families Television series by Amazon MGM Studios Television series by Sony Pictures Television