Moses Ingram is taking prestige TV by storm these days. Following her Emmy nomination for her work co-starring on Netflix’s The Queen’s Gambit, the actress sparked all kinds of conversations (not all of them good ones, sadly) with her portrayal of the morally struggling antagonist Reva in Disney+’s now-wrapped Obi-Wan Kenobi. And now Ingram has lined up her next big project, which has some Star Wars ties despite not taking place in galaxies far, far away.
In a bit of recasting news, Moses Ingram is set to join the upcoming Apple TV+ drama Lady in the Lake for a role that was previously held by Star Wars’ latter-day trilogy co-star Lupita Nyong’o until the Black Panther sequel actress bowed out earlier in 2022. The series will be led by Natalie Portman, meaning Ingram is going from working alongside Darth Vader to working with Anakin’s on-screen SO, which seems like quite the one-of-a-kind situation.
Lady in the Lake, which is currently in production, is an adaptation of Laura Lippman’s best-selling novel of the same name. Taking place in Baltimore during the 1960s, the story centers on a housewife and mother, Maddie Schwartz, who is inspired by a local unsolved murder to turn her life around as an investigative journalist. This change in course causes Maddie to putt heads with another hard-working mother, Cleo Sherwood, who balances working multiple jobs to keep her family afloat, while also putting her efforts to advocate for the city’s Black progressive push.
Moses Ingram will be starring as Cleo, with Natalie Portman taking on the role of Maddie, and this should be quite the intriguing and emotionally straining project for the Reva actress to take following the racially motivated trolling and harassment she faced before and after Obi-Wan Kenobi premiered. It’s definitely understandable why such a project would draw her interest, and even beyond all of the personal motivations, this kind of project seems destined for critical acclaim and awards attention, which will hopefully equate to big viewership numbers, allowing the show’s message to spread.
Lady in the Lake was created by Alma Har’el, best known for directing 2019’s Shia LaBeouf drama Honey Boy. Har’el will also be directing the news series, as well taking on executive producer duties alongside Natalie Portman. Other cast members for the streaming drama include Stranger Things star Brett Gelman, Insecure vet Y’lan Noel, and Better Things’ Mikey Madison.
With Ambulance also winning over audiences earlier in 2022 (which followed her work as Lady Macduff in 2021's The Tragedy of Macbeth opposite Denzel Washington), Moses Ingram is clearly making some brilliant moves early on in her career. While it's impossible to know what Lady in the Lake will turn out to be, one can certainly anticipate greatness, considering it's the first TV show that managed to draw Natalie Portman away from feature work. And everything Ingram has touched so far as turned to gold, so why should this one be any different?
Lady in the Lake doesn’t yet have a release window planned for Apple TV+, but stay tuned for more updates as production continues. In the meantime, Moses Ingram’s solid work on Obi-Wan Kenobi can be streamed in full with a Disney+ subscription, which is also where fans will eventually be able to see Natalie Portman’s return to the MCU for Thor: Love and Thunder, which has finally screened for critics.
