Wendi McLendon-Covey didn't want to play a mom again for her first post-“Goldbergs” role

The "St. Denis Medical" star spent a decade playing an overbearing mother. Now, she's dedicated to work on the new comedy.

For 10 years, she hovered over her children's every move, lovingly smothering them — against their own wishes — with nubbies (a.k.a. neck kisses) and embarrassing them at school and in front of friends.

Beverly Goldberg gave star Wendi McLendon-Covey a lot to work with — she even wrote a cookbook! — but after a decade spent playing the adoring but overbearing mother, wife, and daughter on The Goldbergs, the actress was ready for "something completely different," she tells Entertainment Weekly. She got that with Joyce on St. Denis Medical (debuting Nov. 12 on NBC) — featured on EW's latest cover — an oncologist-turned-executive-director of a regional hospital.

"I didn't want to play another mom right away. I did that, and I was going to be closely associated with that," admits the Bridesmaids and Reno 911 alum. But it's not like she was looking to move on from the ABC comedy. McLendon-Covey received the script for St. Denis the same day she found out The Goldbergs was canceled.

Related: Wendi McLendon-Covey is glad she didn't know The Goldbergs was ending when she filmed the finale

"That was crazy, but I didn't want to have any downtime," McLendon-Covey says, "for my own mental health."

It's lucky for St. Denis creators Eric Ledgin and Justin Spitzer, who weren't even sure the actress would want to dive into another series, having just starred on one for a decade. "I was surprised. I didn't think she'd be interested. I would've thought she'd want a break," says Spitzer. "But she loves to work."

She dove right back in for the St. Denis pilot, playing Joyce, a character in stark contrast to Bev Goldberg.

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Related: See all the photos from Entertainment Weekly's cover shoot with St. Denis Medical star Wendi McLendon-Covey

"[Joyce] is a woman that cannot nurture anything. She cannot keep a plant alive. She has stuffed animals all around her office, but she could not mother a thing," McLendon-Covey says. (And yes, the actress was also happy to leave behind Bev's signature wacky sweaters and wig — though, she does "miss the efficiency of the wigs — I do miss only spending 10 minutes in the chair.")

She does, however, have some hobbies, one of which is taking marimba lessons. In one episode, she'll even show off her skills on the percussion instrument to her co-workers. But Joyce also enjoys making bone broth, collecting knots, and mugging — meaning she “makes mugs… I don’t steal them from people,” she clarifies in an episode. “Weird is a great word for her because none of those things have anything to do with each other, but they're all kind of solitary pursuits,” she says, pausing to quickly tend to her cats. (Joyce, it’s worth noting, is more of a stuffed animal person: “They don't need to be fed, and they're relatively clean — they don't need litter boxes.”) “So, yeah, she is a bit of a weirdo. Would she call herself that? No, but I would.”