Mary Elizabeth Winstead AP Images
The comic thriller, from Robert and Michelle King, is set in the world of Washinton, D.C. politics.
Mary Elizabeth Winstead is heading to CBS.
The Scott Pilgrim vs. the World actress will star in the network's upcoming comic thriller BrainDead. The sci-fi drama, which hails from The Good Wife creators Robert and Michelle King, centers on brain-eating aliens who attack Washington, D.C.
Winstead will portray Laurel, the daughter of a Democratic political dynasty who left the Capital to become a documentary filmmaker but is pulled back into the family business when her brother, the senate majority whip, needs her help running his senate office. Now a young, fresh-faced Hill staffer, Laurel discovers that the government has stopped working and that alien spawn have come to Earth and eaten the brains of a growing number of congressmen and their staffers.
“We’ve been fans of Mary going back to Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, but it was really her extraordinary work in Smashed and Alex of Venice that had us imagining Laurel’s lines coming out of her mouth,” said the Kings in a joint statement. “She’s fantastic at mixing comedy and drama, and keeping it all vulnerable yet real. We can't wait to see what she does with Laurel.”
Winstead is known for her roles in the horror films Final Destination 3, Black Christmas, Death Proof, The Thing and Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. Her television credits include the A&E's The Returned, along with the upcoming PBS period drama Mercy Street. In addition, Winstead is getting ready to hit the road for a handful of showcase performances with Got a Girl, a musical duo formed in 2012 by Winstead and music producer Dan the Automator.
BrainDead will premiere in the summer of 2016 as part of the network's genre-heavy summer roster, which also includes Zoo and Extant.
