Pilots can be kind of strange sometimes. Go back and watch the first episode of some of your favorite TV shows and see how different the series looks in its first episode from what it went on to become in later seasons. For network television, and oftentimes cable, the pilot is not just the starting point of the series, but also the one-episode sample produced to sell the concept of the show to the network. Once the pilot goes to series, the writers or network may decide to make some changes to the cast, the characters, the story and/or the setting. Such is the case for NBC's upcoming new series Believe, which was supposed to include Resident Evil's Sienna Guillory, who was previously set up as a series regular. THR reports that Guillory is leaving the series and her role will not be recast.
Slated for midseason, Believe comes from Alfonso Cuaron (Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban) and Mark Friedman (The Forgotten), with J.J. Abrams among the executive producers, and centers on Bo (Johnny Sequoya), a little girl with extraordinary abilities she can't understand or control. Orphaned, Bo is raised by people called "True Believers," who protect her against outsiders who might want to exploit Bo's gifts. When Bo's life and future are in danger, the Believers seek out the man they believe can protect her, which includes having to break him out of jail. Via NBC:
Bo sees people for who they truly are… and who they may become. Tate and Bo begin their journey, one in which trust must be earned. Traveling from city to city, every place they stop and everyone they meet will be changed forever. But they’ll have to keep going to stay one step ahead of the sinister forces after Bo’s power… because it will take a miracle to keep them safe forever.
THR says Guillory's character Moore was a hit-woman targeting the child. She's being written out of the series. The site notes that she signed on as a series regular and appears in the pilot as the first person to try to kidnap bo. While the site notes that she won't be recast, there's no mention of any alterations being made to the original pilot - at least when it comes to Guillory's character - so we may get to see her in Episode 1. As for the change, it doesn't sound like this alteration has anything to do with Guillory's performance, the producers are just looking to go in a different direction in terms of the types of assassin's we'll see targeting the child and her protector Tate (Jake McLaughlin).
Prior to her role in Believe, Guillory's credits include the Resident Evil films, an episode of Covert Affairs, and TV miniseries The Virgin Queen. She's also credited for playing Colin Firth's two-timing girlfriend in Love Actually.
