Posted in: CBS, Preview, TV | Tagged: bleeding cool, cable, cbs, clarice, hannibal, Home and Away, Lecter, Legacies, Pretty Little Liars, Rebecca Breeds, streaming, television, The Silence Of The Lambs, thomas harris, tv
"Clarice": "Pretty Little Liars" Star Rebecca Breeds Cast as FBI Agent Starling in CBS' "Silence of the Lambs" Sequel Series
More than a month after CBS announced they were giving The Silence of the Lambs sequel series Clarice a series commitment, we've learned Rebecca Breeds (Home and Away, Pretty Little Liars) has been cast in the role of FBI Agent Starling. Based on characters and situations from Thomas Harris' novels, the series stems from writers and executive producers Alex Kurtzman and Jenny Lumet. A pilot script has already been penned and will film before a series order is given – but a writers room has already been open in anticipation of a greenlight.
Brilliant and vulnerable, Breeds' Starling graduated Magna Cum Laude from UVA with a double major in Psych and Criminology. Her bravery gives her an inner light that draws monsters and madmen to her. Her complex psychological makeup comes from a challenging childhood, and her drive comes from her need to escape the burden of family secrets that have haunted her throughout her life.
"After more than 20 years of silence, we're privileged to give voice to one of America's most enduring heroes – Clarice Starling. Clarice's bravery and complexity have always lit the way, even as her personal story remained in the dark. But hers is the very story we need today: her struggle, her resilience, her victory. Her time is now, and always."
– Alex Kurtzman and Jenny Lumet
MGM, CBS Television Studios, and Kurtzman's CBS Studios-based Secret Hideout are set to produce the series, which will be set in 1993 – one year after the events of The Silence of the Lambs. Clarice is being described as a deep dive into the untold personal story of Clarice Starling, as she returns to the field to pursue serial murderers and sexual predators while navigating the high stakes political world of Washington, D.C.
Kurtzman and Lumet will executive produce alongside Secret Hideout's Heather Kadin, with the company's Aaron Baiers serving as co-executive producer. Clarice isn't MGM's first attempt at a series: in 2012, the company was working with Lifetime on a series that would focus on the character after graduating from the FBI Academy – but the project did not move forward. No information was released on if the series will use Harris' 1999 sequel novel Hannibal as source material, or move forward with a new storyline.