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Rosie O'Donnell Joins 'A League Of Their Own' Reboot In A Queer Role

One of the original Rockford Peaches is joining the lineup of Amazon Studios’ “A League of Their Own” reboot series.

Appearing on the “Everything Iconic with Danny Pellegrino” podcast last week, Rosie O’Donnell confirmed plans to appear on the show in a guest role.

“I’m playing a bartender in one of the scenes at the local gay bar,” she explained. “I’m shooting it in the upcoming months.”

O’Donnell made her feature film debut in the original “A League of Their Own,” which was released in 1992 and is regarded as a modern classic. The comedy chronicled the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, which was founded in 1943, and starred Geena Davis, Tom Hanks and Madonna.

The series reboot will be co-created by Abbi Jacobson of “Broad City” and is billed as “a reinterpretation” of the original film that “takes a deeper look at race and sexuality,” according to Entertainment Weekly. In addition to Jacobson, the confirmed cast includes Chanté Adams, D’Arcy Carden, Gbemisola Ikumelo and Nick Offerman.

An Amazon representative did not immediately respond to HuffPost’s request for comment on O’Donnell’s involvement in the new series.

Rosie O'Donnell (left) and Madonna at the premiere of
Rosie O'Donnell (left) and Madonna at the premiere of

O’Donnell has frequently credited the original “A League of Their Own” with catapulting her to Hollywood fame after years on the standup comedy circuit, as well as fostering her friendship with Madonna. She reiterated that point in her chat with Pellegrino, noting she couldn’t be happier with what she’s seen of the reboot thus far.

“I love the ‘Broad City’ women,” she said. “When I was told [Jacobson] was doing ‘League,’ she called me up and said, ‘Ro, would you do it?’ And I said, ‘In a minute.’ Then she sent me the pilot that she did and it was just really beautiful.”

Later in the interview, O’Donnell revealed that she’d always seen Doris Murphy ― her role in the original “A League of Their Own” ― as a gay woman, even though the character never identified as a lesbian in the film.

“She had that speech where she says, ‘I never really felt like a real girl. I always felt like a fake girl, not even a girl, but now there’s a lot of us and I feel like we’re all OK’ — I did that in the bus and [director] Penny Marshall goes, ‘Rosie, do it again. It’s not like a gay thing.’”

“So I played it the way I played it,” she added. “But again, to me, that was a gay character.”

Listen to Rosie O’Donnell on “Everything Iconic with Danny Pellegrino” below.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.

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