Kevin James: 'Kevin Can Wait' Killed Off Wife Because 'Out of Ideas'
The show is instead bringing in Leah Remini, James' former partner on 'King of Queens', as a regular cast member. "It really felt like this was needed for this show to drive forward," James tells NY Daily News. "The premise of the show didn't have enough drive." "I get that people are like 'Whoa, why would you do this?'" "The plot of the show didn't have enough drive," Initially, the show was supposed to star James as a single father, and by the end of season one, producers realized they needed to make a change if they wanted the sitcom to run for multiples seasons. "If we got through a second season, I wouldn't see us getting through a third one," James said. "We were literally just running out of ideas." Kevin James says when Leah Remini appeared on the series for last season's finale, it just felt right. "When she came on... it was just the greatest," he gushes. "Fans loved it, everybody on the crew loved it." "We just knew right away, so we thought, 'How can we get her here full-time to be on the show?'" 'Kevin Can Wait' star Kevin James has spoken about why the sitcom killed off the character of his wife, played by Erinn Hayes.