ABC's live sitcom event adds Anthony Anderson, Ike Barinholtz, Sean Hayes, and more to cast

Live in Front of a Studio Audience: Norman Lear’s All in the Family and The Jeffersons is broadening its roster of incredible talent.

On Friday, ABC announced that Ike Barinholtz (The Mindy Project, Blockers), Anthony Anderson (black-ish), and Sean Hayes (Will and Grace) are among the new faces added to the special one-night-only live event. Late night host Jimmy Kimmel first announced the event back in April. Woody Harrelson, Marisa Tomei, Jamie Foxx, and Will Ferrell were among the first round of casting announcements.

Barinholtz will recreate the role of Meathead, Hayes will play Mr. Lorenzo, and Anderson joins the cast as Uncle Henry. Other newly announced cast members include Amber Stevens West (22 Jump Street) as Jenny Willis Jefferson, Jovan Adepo (Fences) as Lionel Jefferson, Stephen Tobolowsky (Schooled, One Day at a Time) as Mr. Bentley, and Jackée Harry (Sister, Sister) as Diane Stockwell.

Though this special’s cast is new, everything else is a blast from the past—including the sets, which replicate the originals down to their precise measurements, and 1970s-inspired costumes. “These two scripts will be done word for word. We’re not updating anything. The lesson in that is human nature doesn’t change,” original series creator Norman Lear tells EW. “All of the problems that Archie and the Jeffersons face are clearly here today. Nothing has been totally resolved. There isn’t any subject we did through all those years that we couldn’t do again today.”

The special, coming from Kimmel and Lear, will air live on Wednesday, May 22 at 8 p.m. ET. This award-winning cast will recreate two original episodes, one from All in the Family and one from The Jeffersons, as part of this unique live event. Kimmel and Lear will host, and legendary television director James Burrows is onboard to direct.

The exact episodes that will be brought to life have yet to be announced.

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