The new character for Ashton Kutcher on “Two and a Half Men” was revealed Wednesday morning at the TV Critics Press Tour.
Kutcher, the big name actor replacing Charlie Sheen, who had been fired, will portray one “Walden Schmidt, internet billionaire with a broken heart,” Nina Tassler, CBS Entertainment President announced to anxious reporters.
The character will be introduced in “a two-parter over two weeks,” she said, though Tassler would not address rumors that the season begins with a death and funeral for the character played by Sheen, who had a bitter public falling out with the show earlier this year.
“A little bit of the mystery is part of the marketing,” Tassler said.
And so she was coy about all other Sheen questions: What they learned from the situation, what Kutcher’s relationship to the others may be, or any predictions for the show, which had been the No. 1 comedy on TV but may well fall with the new recasting.
She said, however, Kutcher joining the cast will be “a big event” and that the show will be “as irreverent as it’s ever been.”
Still, there was no plan for a press session for Kutcher or “Two and a Half Men” at the CBS portion of the tour, though there was one planned for Ted Danson joining “CSI.”