Andi Mack star Peyton Elizabeth Lee will play the title role in the gender-swapped Doogie Howser recharge for Disney +
Disney announced Thursday that Peyton Elizabeth Lee will be wearing the white lab coat and stethoscope in the upcoming reload of Disney +, Doogie Howser, MD
The 16-year-old actress takes over the position from Neil Patrick Harris in the original ABC series, which ran from 1989 to 1993.
This is the highest profile to date for Lee, who previously played the title role in the Disney Channel original series Andi Mack.
New face: Peyton Elizabeth Lee (16) will play in a rerun of Doogie Howser for Disney +, titled Doogie Kameāloha, MD; seen in 2019 in Hollywood
The new medical series for half-houses has been transplanted to Hawaii and will be titled Doogie Kameāloha, MD, to reflect the character’s background.
Later on Thursday, Deadline reported that actress Kathleen Rose Perkins of the Episodes will also be starring in the series.
In the reboot series, Lee plays 16-year-old doctor Lahela “Doogie” Kameāloha.
The mixed teenager has to balance her social life with the obligations of a medical career under high pressure.
Old school: Neil Patrick Harris plays the title character in the original series, presented from 1989–1993, as a 16-year-old doctor. Lee’s character was renamed Lahela “Doogie” Kameāloha; publicity continues for Doogie Howser, MD
The biggest part: Episodes actress Kathleen Rose Perkins will also join the series as Lahela’s ‘spit-fire’ Irish mother, who is also a doctor and her supervisor in the hospital; seen in 2017
Perkins will star as Lahela’s ‘spit-fire’ Irish mother, who is also a doctor and her supervisor in hospital.
She also has a Hawaiian ‘Local Boy’ father who is struggling to accept that his daughter will soon become an adult.
Executive producer Kang, who previously worked with Perkins on ABC’s Fresh Off The Boat, will head the reload series.
In the original series, created by the late Steven Bochco and David E. Kelley, Doogie’s father was a doctor, while he had a stay-at-home mom.
The new reload will remain in the family as Bochco’s widow, Dayna Bochco, and their son Jesse Bochco will co-produce the series with Kang, Jake Kasdan and Melvin Mar.
Strong start: Lee was part of a cast in history during her three-season series on Disney’s Andi Mack. She played the title character, who learned at the beginning of the series that her older sister was actually her mother.
Make progress: The series was the first on the Disney Channel with a gay main character; publicity still from Andi Mack
Lee was part of a cast in history during her three-season series on Disney’s dramatic Andi Mack.
She played the title character, who learned at the beginning of the series that her traveling older sister was actually her mother.
Andi Mack was the first Disney Channel series with a gay main character.
Joshua Rush played Andi’s friend Cyrus, who came out gay in the second season of the show after having the same boy that Andi is interested in.
From outside the camera, Lee plays a recurring voice in Disney’s The Lion Guard, and she previously appeared in the ABC crime series Stumptown.
Emerging career: Lee is from outside the film and plays a voice role in Disney’s The Lion Guard, and she previously appeared in the ABC crime series Stumptown; seen with Skylar Astin in 2019