Production has started on Zarqa, a new CBC Gem comedy from Zarqa Nawaz, who was the creator and showrunner of CBC’s ground-breaking and award-winning Muslim sitcom Little Mosque on the Prairie.

Zarqa follows Nawaz as the titular character, a middle-aged Muslim woman who learns on social media that her ex-husband is marrying a white yoga instructor half his age. Zarqa impulsively responds that she will attend the wedding with her own partner, a white surgeon named Brian. The only problem is she still needs to meet him.

“Television shows only a tiny sliver of Muslim life, which perpetuates stereotypes,” said creator, showrunner and star Nawaz, in a statement. “I craved and created the rarely told story of a strong Muslim woman in hijab who takes agency over her romantic life.”

Produced by Nawaz’s Regina-based FUNdamentalist Films, Zarqa was financed by the Bell Fund, the Independent Production Fund (IPF) and Creative Saskatchewan. The Canada Media Fund and IPF funded the show and trailer development phase. Filming will run from Oct. 12 to 29 in Regina, with the show premiering on CBC Gem in 2022.

Producers on the show are Dunn (Make it Pop, The Smart Woman Survival Guide), Dawn Bird (Mercy, Bread Thieves, Why Am I?) and Liz Whitmere (The Neddeaus of Duqesne Island, Late Night in the Studio).

Joining Nawaz in the cast are Rizwan Manji, Husnain Sher, Rob van Meenen, Sangita Gupta, Kris Alvarez, Omar Alex Khan, Anand Rajaram, Nimet Kanji, Danny Balkwill, Katie Murphy, Dakota Ray Hebert, Gerald Lenton-Young, Bonnie Senger and Darianne Galden.

Writers on the first season include Nawaz (Little Mosque on the Prairie, Me and the Mosque), Sadiya Durrani (Little Mosque on the Prairie, Overlord and the Underwoods, The Parker Andersons/Amelia Parker) and Claire Ross Dunn (Little Mosque on the Prairie, Degrassi, Falling For Look Lodge, Cupids on Beacon Street).

Directors include Whitmere, Candy Fox (ahkâmêyimo nitânis / Keep Going, My Daughter, The Other Side) and  Iman Zawahry (Tough Crowd, Undercover, Americanish).