Courteney Cox returns to TV with new series Shining Vale alongside Greg Kinnear and Mira Sorvino

Courteney Cox is heading back to the small screen.

The 56-year-old Friends star will lead the upcoming horror comedy series Shining Vale on Starz.

The premium network announced it is picking up the project on Friday, with co-stars Greg Kinnear and Mira Sorvino also joining the winning ensemble.

Shining Vale will follow a dysfunctional family that moves from the city to a small town into a house in which terrible atrocities have taken place.

Cox plays the lead role of Patricia ‘Pat’ Phelps, the family matriarch who is convinced she’s either depressed or possessed – turns out, the symptoms are exactly the same.

Meanwhile, Kinnear, 57,  is playing her ever-optimistic husband, Terry Phelps, whose patience and self-control will be tested like never before. 

The eight-episode series will air on Starz in the U.S. and Canada and on its international streaming platform Starzplay across Europe, Latin America and Japan.

Sorvino, 53, snagged the twisted role of Rosemary, who is either Pat’s alter ego, a split personality, her id, her muse, or a demon trying to possess her.

Merrin Dungey, Gus Birney and Dylan Gage round out the cast of the half-hour show, which is created by Jeff Astrof and Sharon Horgan.  

Courteney will also serve as a producer on the series. 

Astrof is the mind behind projects like Trial & Error and Ground Floor, while Horgan created and starred in the hit marriage comedy series Catastrophe from 2015-2019.

‘Shining Vale is a smart, chilling and funny series that tells the story of a family in turmoil who is suddenly living with a paranormal who helps Courteney Cox’s character get her groove back as she starts to question her own sanity,’ Starz President of Original Programming Christina Davis said in a press release.

‘This group of talented actors, executive producers and director blends comedy and horror brilliantly throughout this series which exemplifies the network’s commitment to improve female representation on and off the screen,’ she added.

This marks Courteney’s first lead television role since starring as Jules Cobb on the popular comedy Cougar Town, which ran for six seasons from 2009 to 2015.

Her work earned her both Golden Globe Award and Critics’ Choice Award nominations.

Prior to that, she lead the short-lived soapy drama Dirt from 2007 to 2008 as Lucy Spiller, the editor-in-chief of a glossy tabloid magazine.

But the star is still best known for her work as Monica Geller during Friends’ 10-season run, as the show remains one of the most popular shows in TV history.

Earlier this week, she proved just how similar she is to the OCD-prone character by offering a glimpse of her meticulously organized kitchen in a hilarious Instagram video on Thursday. 

Courteney shared the video as part of an Instagram challenge encouraging her fans to show that they were a ‘Monica’ without actually admitting it due to their incredible organization skills. 

The cheeky video showed her perfectly labelled spice rack, along with a cupboard full of labeled spice jars.

Courteney then turned to her fully stocked pantry with each and every item perfectly placed, and remarked: ‘I know.’  

The actress’ video comes just after the taping of the upcoming special episode of the sitcom, which will be released under the title Friends: The Reunion.  

The special was initially supposed to begin principal photography in March of 2020, although it was later delayed to August as a response to the onset of the global pandemic.

After a second postponement, the episode was finally filmed earlier this month.