Earlier this summer, CBS decided not to bring Erinn Hayes back for the second season of “Kevin Can Wait,” and then cast Kevin James’ former TV wife, Leah Remini, in a series regular role. MORE: What to expect from your favorite TV shows 
 
 "Obviously, the chemistry between Kevin and Leah was amazing in the stunt episode(s) we did at the end of last season, and we decided we want to continue that," Thom Sherman, senior executive VP at the network, told the Television Critics Association Tuesday. That paved the way for Leah Remini, who paired with Kevin star Kevin James on CBS' long-running The King of Queens, to reunite permanently after she guest-starred in two May episodes.
– When the CBS sitcom Kevin Can Wait returns next season it will manage to look very different and yet very familiar at the same time. How so? The network has made the bold decision to kill off co-star Erinn Hayes, who played the wife of Kevin James' character on season one, and give James a new love interest in the form of Leah Remini. Which means that James and Remini will essentially be resurrecting their long-running King of Queens partnership, notes USA Today. “The character will have passed away and we will be moving forward in time catching up at a later date,” CBS programming boss Thom Sherman explained to a gathering of TV critics on Tuesday, per Variety. He pushed back against the notion that the show will become a slightly different version of King of Queens, though Remini herself suggested otherwise previously. The two Kevin Can Wait characters are "literally Doug and Carrie as cops," she said, referring to their former iterations of Doug and Carrie Heffernan.