With State of Affairs among the series passed over for renewal last spring, that leaves Katherine Heigl available for other shows. CBS may end up being her new home, as the former Grey's Anatomy star has been tapped to take over the lead role in the retooled pilot Doubt.
Variety says Katherine Heigl has joined the cast of the CBS legal drama, Doubt, which will have her playing the part of Sadie Ellis, a defense attorney who falls for one of her clients, who might just be guilty of a brutal crime. The role is described as smart and chic, which certaintly seems like something Heigl can pull off.
From the sound of it, this pilot has gone through quite a few alterations after being passed over for a series order earlier this year. In addition to re-writes, more than one role in the pilot has been recast, and that includes the one Heigl is playing, which was previously played by KaDee Strickland.
KaDee Strickland shares a ShondaLand connection with Heigl, having played Dr. Charlotte King in the Grey's Anatomy spinoff series Private Practice.
At this point, Doubt is still only in the pilot stage, but these changes have reportedly breathed enough life into the legal drama to get it back on track for series contention. Assuming it does go to series, Doubt will put Katherine Heigl back on network television in a starring role.
During and following her run as Izzie Stevens on Grey's Anatomy, Heigl shifted to feature films, starring in Knocked Up, 27 Dresses, The Ugly Truth and One for the Money. She shifted back to television for the 2014-2015 season with State of Affairs, a thriller/drama in which she played a CIA analyst. Though the series showed strong numbers with its premiere episode last November, the ratings began to dip as the year came to a close, and then took a steeper drop in January. It never really recovered, and NBC decided not to renew it for Season 2.
Doubt could offer Heigl another shot to play a leading female in a network TV drama, assuming CBS is happy enough with the changes to move forward with it. It certainly has a solid cast lined up. Variety confirms that Laverne Cox, Dule Hill, Dreama Walker, Elliott Gould, Kobi Libii and Laverne Cox are still among the cast of the pilot, but their sources say Teddy Sears' character will be recast.
