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‘It’s Not Like That’ Offers Hope Amid Loss, Second Chances

‘It’s Not Like That’ Offers Hope Amid Loss, Second Chances

Last updated on: January 25, 2026 at 9:29 pm by DeWayne Hamby

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‘It’s Not Like That’ Offers Hope Amid Loss, Second Chances 2026-01-25T21:29:21-04:00 DeWayne Hamby

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As an exploration of grief, grace and second chances, the new series “It’s Not Like That” premieres Jan. 25 on the Wonder Project streaming platform, offering viewers a raw yet hopeful look at blended family dynamics through the lens of faith and human imperfection.

Scott Foley and Erinn Hayes star in “It’s Not Like That.” Photo by Steve Dietl. Courtesy of Wonder Project.

The show centers on Malcolm, a pastor returning to his congregation after the death of his wife, Jenny. As he navigates single parenthood and emotional turmoil, he leans on his late wife’s best friend, Laurie, while contending with her ex-husband, David, who reenters the picture amid his own struggles with sobriety and regret. Starring Scott Foley as Malcolm, Erinn Hayes as Laurie and J.R. Ramirez as David, the series blends poignant drama with moments of levity, reflecting the complexities of real life.

Foley, known for roles in “Scandal” and “Felicity,” highlights a pivotal scene in the pilot that defines Malcolm’s vulnerability.

“He’s been struggling to write his sermon, his first sermon back after he’s taken some time off after his wife passed away, and he does something that almost every man I know doesn’t and should, which is he asks for help,” Foley said. “He stands up in front of his congregation, and he says, ‘I’m not okay.’ I’m going to lean on you guys.”

This moment, Foley added, opens emotional doors for the character, emphasizing themes of community and humility. The actor draws personal parallels, noting his own loss of his mother at age 15, which mirrors the eldest daughter’s arc.

“I’d be Flora,” he said of Malcolm’s oldest child. “Struggling to figure it out. Who am I now that mom has died, just trying to find the ground after losing sort of your rock.”

Hayes, whose credits include “Children’s Hospital” and “Kevin Can Wait,” portrays Laurie as a steadfast friend thrust into a surrogate maternal role, balancing her own family’s needs with those of Malcolm’s children. She praised the show’s depiction of post-divorce and post-loss recovery, starting not in the immediate aftermath but in the messy rebuilding phase.

“The moment we pick up this story is people figuring out how to recover from grief and from loss and from divorce,” Hayes said. “It depicts very well the female experience, a mother’s experience that we are constantly trying to make everything okay for everyone, possibly at the detriment to us.”

A kitchen scene in the pilot resonates deeply for Hayes, capturing Laurie’s internal conflict as her kids question her priorities.

“You see Laurie really trying … she’s trying to honor her friend and explain to her own children … she’s trying to balance all of it,” she explained. “It’s fun to play because of the back and forth with the kids and interrupting each other and trying to make yourself understood with your children is very hard because they’re like, think about me. Only think about me.”

Ramirez embodies David as a flawed but redeemable figure grappling with poor timing and personal demons. Far from a traditional antagonist, David’s journey underscores the show’s absence of clear villains.

“I love how messy David is,” Ramirez said. “David has a lot of things that he’s got terrible timing … I just love the arc of what they gave this character throughout the entire season is just absolutely beautiful, and it’s real. And you see a man who falls down all the time, has a lot of obstacles, but keeps getting up.”

Ramirez appreciates David’s relatability, especially in moments of relapse and reflection. “Even when he falls down with sobriety … it’s, this is a momentary lapse … he’s not gonna let this kind of deter him, but he falls, you know, and that’s that speaks so much to us. You know, we’re not perfect.”

The cast unanimously celebrates the series’ balance of heavy topics like grief and addiction with humor, mirroring life’s unpredictability. “Life is not always serious. It is not always funny. It is it’s a mixed bag of all of it,” Hayes said. Foley echoed this, noting, “The beauty and the balance of the show is that we’re dealing with every day, relatable, heavy, sometimes light subjects, but the fact that there is some levity throughout all of it, that’s how we all get through life.”

Central to “It’s Not Like That” are messages of compassion and grace. Ramirez pointed to the title’s essence: “We are so quick to kind of judge people that we see or that we meet, and we really have no idea what they’re battling. I think compassion is something that I keep watching and seeing.”

Foley reframed it as grace, adding, “The ability to watch a television show and to feel characters caring about one another and for one another really leans into that. Our show does a very good job, intentionally, of leading with grace.”

It’s Not Like That will

“It’s Not Like That” was created by Ian Deitchman and Kristin Robinson and is executive produced by Garrett Lerner, Jon Erwin, Justin Rosenblatt, Jon Gunn, Scott Foley, Brad Silberling, and Alex Goldstone. The series premiered with the first two episodes on Sunday, January 25, 2026, on Wonder Project’s subscription on Prime Video in the U.S., with episodes debuting weekly on Sundays thereafter.

Take a look at the first episode of “It’s Not Like That Below.”

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