The Round Mound of Rebound, Charles Barkley is coming to the USA Network to guest star on the upcoming season of the network’s mega hit show Suits. This means he has conquered stepping outside his role as a studio analyst for the Emmy-winning Inside the NBA show. He’s even picked up a few Emmys himself along the way and has guest hosted SNL numerous times.
The chance for Barkley to appear on Suits was due the show’s creator Aaron Korsh, who is a huge Barkley fan:
“I’m the dipsh*t that grew up in Philadelphia in the Barkley era, so that’s where the idea for this particular scene came from,” Korsh, hints. “Often I get asked to put people in the show as cameos, but when I heard Charles say he is a fan of the show, to me it’s very personal. I’m a huge basketball fan, I always have been. And in particular a Barkley fan. We had to get him on.”
And the feeling is mutual. Barkley has been open about his love for the show for awhile now. So despite his schedule being filled with playoff basketball duties, he jumped at the chance to appear on the show:
“It’s really cool for me, because when they heard me bragging about the show they invited me and I was like, ‘I gotta make it work,’ ” Barkley tells THR. “Right now with playoffs we’re in our busy time and the only day we have off is Friday. I was like, ‘I don’t give a shit. My day off, we’re going up there to Toronto.”
Barkley will be the second athlete (after Michael Phelps) to appear on the show. According to Korsh, there were concerns giving the freewheeling, unscripted Barkley a speaking role, but the showrunner worked with Barkley and others to get the network’s approval:
“He’s on TV every night, and he’s such a big personality. I was like, ‘Look, he can make these lines his own. We’re just going to believe he is who he is,” Korsh adds. “I just had confidence in his ability and he killed it.”
No word yet on if this will lead to more television roles. Maybe Barkley will go the Shaq route and get his own movie deal. Kazaam 2, maybe?
(Via The Hollywood Reporter)