Friend of Janet Wright takes on role in Corner Gas cartoon

Corrine Koslo has been cast as the voice of Emma Leroy in the upcoming animated version of Corner Gas.

The award-winning actress is a longtime friend of the late Janet Wright, who portrayed the long-suffering matriarch in the original series. Wright died in November.

Corner Gas was the No. 1 sitcom in Canada throughout its entire six-season run, which ended in 2009. The cast reunited for Corner Gas: The Movie in 2014.

• Award-winning Corner Gas star Janet Wright dead at 71
• Iconic Corner Gas set in Rouleau, Sask., demolished
• Corner Gas returning as animated series

The main cast of the original series, set in the fictional community of Dog River, Sask., will be lending their voices to the cartoon iteration of the show.

Koslo grew up in Halifax, Manitoba and Edmonton and is a graduate of the Vancouver Playhouse Acting School. She has performed on stages across the country for more than three decades, and has been a member of Ontario's Shaw Festival acting ensemble for 12 years.

The veteran actress also has experience as a voice actor as Lady Rataxes in the children's series Babar, and has been cast in Anne, the upcoming Netflix adaptation of Anne of Green Gables.

In an interview with The Canadian Press in December, creator and star Brent Butt said the storylines for the animated version will be entirely new.

Joining Butt in the series are Corner Gas co-stars Gabrielle Miller (Lacey), Eric Peterson (Oscar), Fred Ewanuick (Hank), Lorne Cardinal (Davis), Tara Spencer-Nairn (Karen), and Nancy Robertson (Wanda).

The 13-episode, half-hour series will debut on The Comedy Network during the 2017-18 season.