Peyton Elizabeth Lee lands lead role in Disney’s ‘Doogie Howser’ reboot

The Doogie Howser reboot has found its female lead, and chances are that younger fans are already quite familiar with her. Peyton Elizabeth Lee, a.k.a. Disney’s Andi Mack, has been officially cast for the new show when it goes into production sometime later this year.

Disney Plus announced the news on January 14, confirming that the 16-year-old is the new face of the reimagined family medical show, Doogie Kameāloha, M.D. The female-led reimagining about a high school wunderkind who is already in medical school is a take on the classic ABC medical drama Doogie Howser, which was Neil Patrick Harris’ first claim to fame. This new take was confirmed to series last year, much to nostalgic fans’ delight.

This time around the 10-episode series takes place in modern-day Hawaii, where a “mixed-race 16-year-old girl” named Lahela juggles “a budding medical career and life as a teenager,” as per the official release. The series also introduces her complicated family, which includes her “spit-fire Irish mother” (played by Kathleen Rose Perkins, of Episodes fame). And, because working with your mom as a teen prodigy can only further complicate things, Lahela’s mom also happens to be her supervisor at the hospital. The series also features Lahela’s “Local Boy” father (the role hasn’t been cast just yet), who has a hard time admitting that his little girl is no longer so little.  

In addition to starring as Andi Mack on the Disney Channel series of the same name from 2017-19, Lee starred as Princess Sam in last year’s Disney Plus movie Secret Society of Second Born Royals. She also voiced Rani in the 2019 animated offering The Lion Guard, and previously appeared on more adult series like Scandal, Shameless, and Stumptown.

Doogie Howser ran from 1989 to 1993 on ABC, and also starred Belinda Montgomery and James Sikking as the young medical wizard’s parents. (In the original iteration it was the father who worked at the hospital while the mother stayed home.) This new iteration hails from creator Kourtney Kang, who worked with Harris on How I Met Your Mother and who also had a creative hand in ABC’s Fresh Off the Boat.

The series is expected to begin filming soon, although Disney Plus has not announced a release date. The show is totally on brand with their reboot strategy though, which includes other remakes like The Mighty Ducks and a TV show version of Turner & Hooch, a.k.a. the 1989 Tom Hanks flick about a detective and his rambunctious (but adorable) dog. Because if viewers need more of anything in the year that is 2021, it’s more TV comfort featuring takes on characters and storylines that they already know and love. 

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[video_embed id='2117648']BEFORE YOU GO: The viral fashion dog in all those videos is getting an article in 'Vogue'[/video_embed]