Charlie Sheen is heading back to a regular sitcom lead, and his real-life father will be sharing the screen with him. Charlie and Martin Sheen will play father and son in Happy Jack, a new half-hour comedy ordered for AMC and AMC+.
The six-episode first season is scheduled to begin production in Los Angeles in early 2027 ahead of a premiere later that year. PEOPLE reported that the show will film before a live studio audience at Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, putting Charlie back into the multicamera format that defined much of his television career.
Charlie plays Jack Chambers, a lifelong underachiever with two grown daughters who turned out well despite their father’s shortcomings. Martin plays Jack’s father, whom AMC says deserves considerably more credit for how the women were raised.
“It’s no secret that it’s been a minute, and I’m thrilled to be going back on television in such a meaningful way in an equally wonderful show,” Charlie said in AMC’s announcement. He added that “the crew has reassembled,” a reference that carries extra weight because several members of the creative team previously worked with him on Two and a Half Men.
Jack’s Daughter Brings Home a Boyfriend His Own Age
View this post on Instagram
The family conflict begins with Jack’s two daughters, Kate and Sam. Kate runs her father’s company and helps keep his life functioning, while AMC describes Sam as the “wild child” who takes more after Jack.
The situation changes when Sam comes home with Paul, a former investment banker who has abandoned that career to become a van-life guru. Jack is stunned to discover that his daughter’s new boyfriend is the same age he is, forcing him to confront just how detached he has remained from his daughters’ adult lives.
TheWrap reported that the official logline ultimately frames Jack’s dilemma as a choice between continuing to put himself first or treating the disruption as a final opportunity to become an active part of his daughters’ lives.
‘Two and a Half Men’ Veterans Are Running the Series
Happy Jack reunites Charlie with writers Jim Patterson and Matt Ross, who will write, executive produce and serve as co-showrunners. Both previously worked on Two and a Half Men, and the pair later collaborated on another multicamera comedy, Netflix’s The Ranch.
Charlie is also an executive producer alongside Todd Christopher, Eric and Kim Tannenbaum, Jason Wang and 20th Television. TheWrap reports that the series is produced by AMC Studios and will shoot in front of a live audience on the Warner Bros. lot in Burbank.
The format brings Charlie back to familiar territory after more than a decade without a regular sitcom lead. PEOPLE notes that his last starring sitcom was FX’s Anger Management, which ran for 100 episodes from 2012 through 2014.
Charlie and Martin Have Played Father and Son Before
The fictional relationship in Happy Jack continues a screen history that stretches back nearly four decades. Martin played the father of Charlie’s ambitious stockbroker Bud Fox in Oliver Stone’s 1987 film Wall Street.
They repeated that father-son setup on television years later. CBS News reported in 2012 that Martin had been cast as the father of Charlie’s character on Anger Management, with Charlie saying at the time that the characters would have a complicated relationship. CBS also noted that Wall Street had previously paired them as father and son. :
Martin has also appeared with his son on Spin City and Two and a Half Men, but Happy Jack gives the two actors something different. They are being introduced together from the outset as the central father-son pairing instead of Martin entering a series that Charlie was already leading.
AMC Is Moving Into Traditional Multicamera Sitcom Territory
The production style also makes Happy Jack unusual for AMC. The Hollywood Reporter describes it as the network’s first multicamera comedy, a format more closely associated with broadcast sitcoms than the dramas and single-camera series that have traditionally defined AMC’s scripted lineup.
AMC Studios president and AMC Global Media chief content officer Dan McDermott said the project is “definitely something new for AMC.” McDermott also has his own history with Charlie, having worked with him during the actor’s Spin City years before later moving into executive leadership.
AMC plans to present Happy Jack to international buyers at MIPCOM in October before production begins in early 2027. The network has announced a 2027 debut on both AMC and AMC+, but no exact premiere date has been set.