The Cleaning Lady (American TV series)

The Cleaning Lady is an American crime drama television series developed by Miranda Kwok, based on the 2017 Argentine television series La chica que limpia. The series premiered on Fox on January 3, 2022. In April 2022, it was renewed for a second season, which premiered on September 19, 2022. In February 2023, the series was renewed for a third season, which premiered on March 5, 2024. In May 2024, the series was renewed for a fourth season.

Premise
The Cleaning Lady centers on Thony De La Rosa, a Cambodian-Filipino former surgeon who is currently working and living in Las Vegas. She is in the US on an expired visa with her five-year-old son Luca, who has a rare and life-threatening medical disorder for which he needs a cutting-edge bone marrow treatment, which is only available in Las Vegas. In order to do so, Thony makes a living as a cleaning service worker alongside her sister-in-law, Fiona. After Thony witnesses a murder and is discovered by Arman Morales, the perpetrator, she is offered a job both as a cleaner and a doctor within Arman's criminal organization that could pay well enough to help her son and her family. As a result, Thony begins living a double life, keeping secrets from her family, while cleaning up crime scenes and evading the law.

Main

 * Élodie Yung as Thony De La Rosa, formerly a surgeon in one of Manila's best hospitals, now trapped in Las Vegas as an undocumented immigrant due to her visa expiring. She becomes a cleaner for the mob in order to gain the connections needed to procure treatment for her sick son.
 * Adan Canto as Arman Morales (seasons 1–2), a gangster associated with a powerful Armenian crime family operating in Las Vegas. He agrees to protect Thony and help her son in exchange for her services as a cleaner.
 * Oliver Hudson as Garrett Miller (seasons 1–2), an FBI agent who goes after Thony in his effort to bring down Arman
 * Martha Millan as Fiona De La Rosa, Thony's sister-in-law and closest friend, with whom she and her son live.
 * Sebastien and Valentino LaSalle as Luca De La Rosa, Thony's son. He suffers from a rare autoimmune illness that forces Thony to keep him hidden from the outside world to protect him from contagion.
 * Sean Lew as Chris, Fiona's son
 * Faith Bryant as Jaz, Fiona's daughter
 * Eva De Dominici as Nadia Morales (seasons 2–3; recurring season 1), Arman's wife
 * Naveen Andrews as Robert Kamdar (season 2)
 * Kate del Castillo as Ramona Sanchez (season 3)
 * Santiago Cabrera as Jorge Sanchez (season 3)

Recurring

 * Navid Negahban as Hayak Barsamian, Arman's boss (seasons 1–2)
 * Ivan Shaw as Marco De La Rosa, Thony's abusive husband and Fiona's brother (seasons 1–2)
 * Jay Mohr as Councilman Eric Knight (season 1)
 * Liza Weil as ASAC Katherine Russo, Garrett's boss at the FBI
 * Shiva Negar as Isabel Barsamian, Hayak's daughter
 * Chelsea Frei as Maya Campbell, an informant of Garrett (season 2)
 * Alberto Isaac as Jacinto "Lolo" De La Rosa (season 2–3), Fiona's father
 * Princess Punzalan as Alma "Lola" De La Rosa (season 2–3), Fiona's mother
 * K.C. Collins as Tyler Jefferson, an FBI colleague of Garrett (season 2)
 * Ryan Sands as JD Harris (seasons 2–3), Jaz's father
 * JB Tadena as Paolo Belleza (season 3), Fiona's ex-boyfriend in Manila, who is revealed to be Chris' father
 * Jacqueline Obradors as Teresa Morales (season 3), Arman's mother
 * Jason Manuel Olazabal as Eduardo Morales (season 3), Arman's father
 * Clayton Cardenas as Dante (season 3), Ramona's right-hand man
 * Brandon Jay McLaren as Jeremy Dolan (season 3)

Special guest star

 * Lou Diamond Phillips as Joe Fabroa

Development
On October 22, 2019, it was announced that Warner Bros. Television Studios had acquired the remake rights to the Spanish-language Argentine television series La Chica Que Limpia and was developing an English-language adaptation for Fox, with a script commitment attached. Miranda Kwok was set to write and develop the series adaptation, with Kwok also attached to executive produce with Melissa Carter and Shay Mitchell. On January 23, 2020, Fox gave the project a pilot order, the first for the network's 2020–21 television season, with Fox Entertainment and Warner Bros. Television Studios set as co-production partners. The series was ultimately pushed back to the 2021–22 television season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with Fox giving a series greenlight consisting of ten hour-long episodes on May 7, 2021. Carter was set as showrunner and executive producer along with Kwok, and Michael Offer was also announced as director and executive producer of the pilot. On May 17, 2021, during Fox's Upfront presentation, it was confirmed the series would premiere as a midseason entry during the 2021–22 television season. On April 7, 2022, Fox renewed the series for a second season. On August 25, 2022, it was reported that Kwok was promoted to showrunner, alongside Carter, for the second season. On February 1, 2023, Fox renewed the series for a third season, and Jeannine Renshaw joined as an executive producer and co-showrunner. The series was renewed for a 12-episode fourth season on May 12, 2024, with a new showrunner to be announced. On July 10, 2024, Daniel Cerone joined the series as an executive producer and the new showrunner for the fourth season.

Casting
In March 2020, Shannyn Sossamon, Adan Canto, Ginger Gonzaga, and Vincent Piazza were cast in main roles for the pilot. However, Sossamon exited the project after the pilot's initial table read. On April 6, 2020, Élodie Yung was cast to replace Sossamon in the lead role. It was announced that the ethnicity of Yung's character would be changed to match Yung's Cambodian background, but that aspects of Filipino culture would still be integrated. On July 2, 2020, Fox extended the cast options for the pilot through September 30, with the previous option having expired on June 30. Due to the pandemic, cast options were extended further on October 2, 2020. Upon the series order announcement, it was publicized that Martha Millan had replaced Gonzaga in the series and that Piazza had dropped out. In addition, twins Sebastien and Valentino LaSalle were also cast in a shared starring role. On July 13, 2021, Oliver Hudson was cast to replace Piazza. On September 21, 2021, Shiva Negar and Jay Mohr joined the cast in recurring roles. On December 14, 2021, Liza Weil and Eva De Dominici were cast in recurring capacities. In August 2022, De Dominici was promoted to a series regular, while Chelsea Frei was cast in a recurring role and Naveen Andrews joined as a series regular for the second season. On September 27, 2022, K.C. Collins joined the cast in a recurring role for the second season. In December 2023, Kate del Castillo, Santiago Cabrera, and Clayton Cardenas were cast as new series regulars for the third season. The same month, Jacqueline Obradors and Jason Manuel Olazabal joined the cast in recurring roles for the third season. Canto died on January 8, 2024, at the age of 42, from appendix cancer. On January 31, 2024, Brandon Jay McLaren and JB Tadena were cast in recurring capacities for the third season.

Filming
The pilot originally started filming on March 10, 2020, in New Mexico, but production was suspended three days later due to the COVID-19 pandemic. By July 2020, Fox had committed to filming the pilot alongside the network's five other pilots ordered for the 2020–21 television season, with production set to resume that summer. However, filming was delayed again to October 5, 2020, and again to February 2021.

Broadcast
The first season of The Cleaning Lady premiered on January 3, 2022, and concluded on March 14, 2022, on Fox. The second season debuted on September 19, 2022, and concluded on December 12, 2022. The third season premiered on March 5, 2024, and concluded on May 21, 2024.

Critical response
The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 60% approval rating based on 15 critic reviews, with an average rating of 6.8/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "Elodie Yung is winning as a resourceful protagonist in over her head, but The Cleaning Lady needs to polish its clichés into something more substantial if it wants to truly sparkle." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 53 out of 100 based on 9 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".