Wendie Malick Is Reveling in Her 'Unglamorous' Role on “The Chicken Sisters”: She's 'Kind of a Witch' (Exclusive)

The new series is part of the launch slate for Hallmark Channel's streaming service, Hallmark+

Her new series may be called The Chicken Sisters, but Wendie Malick is far from chicken.

In the new show, debuting on Hallmark+ on Sept. 10 and based on the best-selling novel of the same name by K.J. Dell'Antonia, the Hot in Cleveland alum, 73, plays Augusta "Gus" Moore, the owner of Mimi's Fried Chicken restaurant. Gus' relationship with her two daughters, Amanda (Schuyler Fisk) and Mae (Genevieve Angleson), is only slightly better than her relationship with the other fried chicken establishment in her small Southern town of Merinac, Frannie's, which is run by Nancy (Lea Thompson).

"This is a completely different character to crawl into," Malick tells PEOPLE of Gus. "She's sparky and edgy and not easy to get along with."

And that's true for the majority of the town, not just her daughters: "She's clashing with pretty much everybody," Malick says. "She doesn't have great people skills in the show. But she's on the road to a giant learning curve. Slowly, slowly, slowly you can chip away at that kind of stern exterior, and I think we get to the heart and the misunderstood woman that she is."

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"It's my unglamorous, but interesting, different sort of ride to take," she adds.

Gus also has a unique look compared to Malick's most memorable characters on shows like Hot in Cleveland, Just Shoot Me! and Dream On. She's casual in flannel shirts and jeans, with long gray hair.

"This woman is kind of a witch," Malick says with a laugh. "In fact, in the book, one of her daughters referred to her as, 'that old witch,' which is why I thought she's got to have long, gray hair. That's immediately what I thought of when I thought of an old crone. She's not somebody who's high maintenance. We have bandanas and I wear hats. I wanted to be in braids all the time with a little bandana, but they said it was too much like Willie Nelson."

As for her clothes, "These are all mine," admits Malick. "I actually am not that different from her in terms of style, just I have better hair in real life. This is my ranch clothing that I wear when I'm at home."

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Of course, at its core, The Chicken Sisters isn't about Malick's look — or even the warring fried chicken restaurants about to appear on a fictional reality show called Kitchen Clash.

"It's a great story about the strength and the complexity of women," Malick says. "This is all driven by the women in this town. They run it, they screw it up, they fix it up, they mend fences, and then they tear them down again. ... This is about generational trauma. It's holding onto old stuff where you just can't let it go, and that can just blind you to the wonders that are around you."

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Malick is intentional about doing the opposite when it comes to her daily life.

"I do this Tai Chi ritual every morning that's about gratitude, and that's how I start my day," she says. "And I just feel so incredibly blessed to do the thing I love, so anytime I get to be on a set with great people and do some storytelling and try on a different character, I just feel like, 'Well, this is as good as it gets.'"

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The Chicken Sisters premieres Tuesday, Sept. 10 as part of the launch of Hallmark+. The second episode will hit the streamer on Thursday, Sept. 12, with new episodes dropping every Thursday after.

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