Allison Janney on 'Mom' without Anna Faris: 'She's very missed'
Allison Janney misses her Mom co-star Anna Faris very much, but the show must go on.
"It was very odd," Janney admitted on Tuesday's Ellen DeGeneres Show when asked about returning to the CBS series this season without her long-time co-star and TV daughter. "She's very missed. Anna is missed and her character on the show is missed."
Faris announced in September she wouldn't be returning this season, after being part of it since its 2013 debut, in order to pursue "new opportunities."
"We're just happy that she's doing what she wants to do now," Janney said.
And the veteran actress said she's "happy even more so that we're able to still tell these stories about these great women and recovery. There are some really wonderful characters that have been established" by Jaime Pressly, Kristen Johnston, Beth Hall and Mimi Kennedy.
"People love the show, so we're going to keep telling the stories as long as we can," she added.
Janney also talked about the show being nominated for three Critics' Choice Awards, including Best Comedy Series. When DeGeneres called it a big deal, Janney replied, "It kind of is, because the network shows tend to get pushed aside because there's so many good shows in all the other [platforms]. So to get a nom in our eighth season — and for [William] Fichtner and Jaime Pressly to get recognized. They're so wonderful and I'm really proud."
The show wrote off Faris's Christy by having her get a full ride to Georgetown University, where she'll study law. They felt it made sense as the sober mom had spent previous seasons dreaming about a law career. Faris did not appear in the episode, which aired in November, but instead Janney's Bonnie and her husband Adam (Fichtner) were seen driving away from the airport, having just dropped Christy off for her flight to Washington, D.C. Bonnie made a crack about how "every mom dreams of the day they drop their 42-year-old off to go to school."
The Scary Movie actress hasn't yet announced her next big project, but she also juggles her hit podcast, Anna Faris is Unqualified.
Read more on Yahoo Entertainment:
