The upcoming Heathers television series based on the popular 1988 dark comedy of the same name has added Hellboy and Cruel Intentions actress Selma Blair to its cast.
Blair is expected to play a character named “Jade” in the series, described as “a stripper, menthol smoker, who is rough around the edges, but with a bit of glamour to her. She’s the gold-digging stepmother to Heather Duke, who is simply biding her time until her 82-year-old husband kicks the bucket.”
The news of Blair’s casting and her role in the series was first reported by Deadline, and the actress later confirmed the news with a post on Instagram.
Scheduled to premiere next year on the Paramount Network (the channel currently known as Spike TV, which will be re-branded in early 2018) instead of the previously announced TV Land, the Heathers series will be set in the present day and will follow lead character Veronica Sawyer (played by Under the Dome actress Grace Victoria Cox) as she navigates high-school life and deals with a mean clique dubbed “The Heathers.”
Along with Victoria Cox and Blair, the series’ cast also includes James Scully (Quantico) as JD, the role played by Christian Slater in the original film.
Instead of a trio of wealthy teenage girls, however, the series’ spin on the three “Heathers” includes Jasmine Mathews as lesbian Heather McNamara, Melanie Field (Wicked National Tour) as Heather Chandler, and Brendan Scannell (Funny or Die) as a gender-shifted Heather Duke. Charmed and Beverly Hills, 90210 actress Shannen Doherty, who played Heather Duke in the original film, is expected to appear in an unidentified role in the series.
No stranger to television projects, Blair recently appeared in the sitcom series Anger Management and played Kris Jenner in the award-winning miniseries American Crime Story: The People vs. O.J. Simpson. In what has become a recurring theme, the film that gave Blair one of her first major roles — Cruel Intentions — is also being turned in a television series.
Leslye Headland, who directed the 2012 comedy Bachelorette and 2015’s Sleeping With Other People, is attached as a director on Heathers, with Butter and Bastards screenwriter Jason A. Micallef penning the script. The first season of the series will encompass ten episodes.
There’s no official premiere date for Heathers at this point, which is slated to debut sometime in 2018.
