American Gigolo: Jon Bernthal Was ‘Not Happy’ on Cancelled Showtime Series, Says Rosie O’Donnell

Nick Caruso

According to his fellow costar Rosie O’Donnell, American Gigolo lead Jon Bernthal was more than pleased that Showtime’s neo-noir crime drama was a one-and-done series.

“Jon Bernthal was not happy with the show, and it was very clear,” the actress and former daytime talk show host told The Hollywood Reporter in a recent interview. “It’s difficult to work that way on a set. He was never happy that he was playing a gigolo. And I’m like, ‘Well, it’s called American Gigolo.'”

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O’Donnell starred as Detective Sunday on the now-cancelled show, which was a present-day reimagining of the 1980 film starring Richard Gere.

She added: “I didn’t love it either, and I questioned at first why you would take a movie set in the mores of the early ’80s and try to remake it without having the seismic cultural shifts that have occurred since then incorporated. One review wrote, ‘It’s almost as though Rosie’s in a different show,’ and in a way, it was… Listen, it was heavy on the gigolo.”

TVLine has reached out to Bernthal’s reps for comment.

The series (which aired its finale on Oct. 30, 2022) follows Julian “Johnny” Kaye (Bernthal) after he’s spent 15 years in prison for a murder he didn’t commit. As the former high-end escort figures out who he is now and tries to reconnect with his former lover Michelle (Boardwalk Empire‘s Gretchen Mol), a police officer named Det. Sunday (O’Donnell) digs for the truth about the crime that sent him to jail. Along the way, she uncovers a far-reaching conspiracy.

Leland Orser (Ray Donovan), Lizzie Brocheré (American Horror Story) and Gabriel LaBelle (iZombie) co-starred on the series, with guest-stars including Wayne Brady (Whose Line Is it Anyway?), Yolanda Ross (The Chi), Sandrine Holt (House of Cards) and Melora Walters (Pen15).

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