Shannen Doherty was a big name on the small screen back in the 90s thanks to a combination of major roles and notoriety. She is still best known for her work as Brenda Walsh in the first four seasons of Beverly Hills, 90210 on Fox and as Prue Halliwell for the first three seasons of Charmed on The WB. She's had a handful of relatively small TV gigs since leaving Charmed in 2001. Now, she's landed a new role that could be pretty fabulous. Shannen Doherty will appear on the upcoming adaptation of Heathers for TV Land.
TV Land's Heathers will reboot the premise of the cult classic film of the same name for an ongoing series. The 1988 movie was a black comedy filled with unforgettable one-liners and hilariously dark plot twists. Shannen Doherty starred as Heather Duke, who was one of three wealthy and vicious teenage girls named Heather. The Heathers' lives were turned upside down when their friend Veronica and her boyfriend J.D. killed one of them, leading to a string of murders, faked suicides, and social upheaval in an Ohio high school.
The TV Land remake will be a modern take on the movie plot, with an all new cast of Heathers pitted against an all new Veronica and J.D. Deadline reports that there's no confirmation of what kind of character Shannen Doherty will play. In fact, we only know that she's been cast thanks to an Instagram photo from the set. We can bet that we won't be hearing her (or any of the other actors) dropping the legendary line "Fuck me gently with a chainshaw!" on TV Land, but I wouldn't be surprised if we heard Shannen Doherty's character ask "Jealous much?" as an epic callback to the original movie in the reboot.
Shannen Doherty joins a cast that includes Grace Victoria Cox as Veronica, James Scully as J.D., Melanie Field as Heather Chandler, Jasmine Mathews as Heather McNamara, and Brendan Scannell as Heather Duke. Few plot details are yet available, but my fingers are crossed that we'll get to see Doherty's character interact with the new Heather Duke. The reboot Heather Duke is actually named Heath and identifies as gender-queer. The differences between the two versions of Heather Duke are massive, and it would be fun to see the actors together on screen. Who knows? Maybe Doherty will be playing Heather Duke's mother. Her role in the pilot has been described as "pivotal," and the mom to a Heather could definitely qualify.
Unfortunately, it will be a while before we get to see Shannen Doherty back in action on a Heathers project. The pilot is currently in production in Los Angeles, and no release date has yet been set. The 1988 Heathers film is available for streaming on Netflix, so subscribers can rewatch the movie to pass the time. Check out our midseason TV premiere schedule to see what will soon hit the airwaves on the small screen.
