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New TV Roles for Cancelled Show Stars
Alana De La Garza
PAST GIG: Forever
NEW GIG: CBS’ Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders is desperately in need of some girl power, now that Anna Gunn has exited the spinoff cast. De La Garza’s turns on Forever and multiple Law & Orders make her more than qualified to continue laying down the (in this case, international) law.
Andrew Leeds
PAST GIG: Cristela
NEW GIG: Should Castle‘s Beckett opt for that senate run, he gets our vote to play a quirky, whip-smart campaign manager (even though he guested as a finance exec in a mostly forgettable Season 3 episode).
Becki Newton
PAST GIG: Weird Loners
NEW GIG: A fellow single mom who makes fast friends at community college with Mom‘s Christy — despite the fact that the former has an abiding love for happy hour, while the latter is in recovery.
Benjamin Stockham
PAST GIG: About a Boy
NEW GIG: Fresh Off the Boat‘s new kid in school, who instantly takes a liking to Eddie and latches on way too hard.
Billy Campbell
PAST GIG: Helix
NEW GIG: Grimm‘s newest member of the resistance, who’ll spar with/challenge the authority of resident Wesen-slayer Nick.
Cristela Alonzo
PAST GIG: Cristela
NEW GIG: The comedian should most certainly be headlining her own show again, but for now we’d accept her as Rogelio’s no-nonsense assistant on Jane the Virgin.
David Walton
PAST GIG: About a Boy
NEW GIG: It’d be too easy for Nick and Jess to get back together at the start of New Girl Season 5. Perhaps Dr. Sam returns to shake things up!
Dylan McDermott
PAST GIG: Stalker
NEW GIG: Across his recent runs on Stalker, Hostages and American Horror Story, McDermott has proven he can play someone physically imposing, even frighteningly intimidating. We hear Arrow calling for him to bring H.I.V.E. bigwig Damien Darhk to life.
Eliza Coupe
PAST GIG: Benched
NEW GIG: On Empire as an Iggy Azalea-type rap artist (with a Mariah-level ego) whose debut disc is raking in huge profits for Empire Entertainment — much to the chagrin of Cookie & Co.
Gabriel Mann
PAST GIG: Revenge
NEW GIG: Reprising his role as Nolan Ross… but on How to Get Away With Murder, as his latest mission from Emily ends up getting him caught in Annalise’s web of lies. Note: Scenes with Connor are mandatory.
Ioan Gruffudd
PAST GIG: Forever
NEW GIG: Seeing the magnetic Welshman as Once Upon a Time’s sought-after Merlin (aka the Sorcerer) would be quite a piece of casting magic.
Jessica Stroup
PAST GIG: The Following
NEW GIG: Orange Is the New Black‘s newest cellmate (who might just make a play for Piper’s heart and/or commissary cash?).
John Mulaney
PAST GIG: Mulaney
NEW GIG: We’d love to see the former SNL scribe and popular standup comedian return to Studio 8H and replace Colin Jost and Michael Che at the Weekend Update desk.
Judd Hirsch
PAST GIG: Forever
NEW GIG: With The Big Bang Theory‘s Mrs. Wolowitz no longer with us, now would seem as good a time as ever for Howard to reconnect with his estranged father.
Ken Marino
PAST GIG: Marry Me
NEW GIG: Reuniting with Veronica Mars and Party Down boss Rob Thomas on iZombie as a rival (fake) psychic to Liv. Or perhaps the show’s heroine needs a TV dad?
Kevin McHale
PAST GIG: Glee
NEW GIG: It’s time for TV’s erstwhile Artie to (again) graduate to college, where on Modern Family he could play a brainiac TA who butts heads with (and maybe crushes on) freshman Alex.
Kris Polaha
PAST GIG: Backstrom
NEW GIG: To The CW’s new Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, we say: Meet your own crazy, stalker-y ex-boyfriend. Bonus: Polaha can sing, too, and plays the ukulele!
Mae Whitman
PAST GIG: Parenthood
NEW GIG: Since Shameless‘ Fiona has been MIA at home, maybe Whitman – as a Planned Parenthood (see what we did there?) counselor – can talk some sense into eager-to-get-preggers Debbie?
Maggie Q
PAST GIG: Stalker
NEW GIG: The tough, sexy love interest that Chicago P.D.‘s Antonio is desperately in need of.
Matt Ryan
PAST GIG: Constantine
NEW GIG: We know he can play down-and-dirty, but we’d love to see the Welsh actor take on Outlander‘s genteel Lord John Grey. (Yes, we know he doesn’t show up until Book 3. No, we don’t care.)
Nick Offerman
PAST GIG: Parks and Recreation
NEW GIG: Someone’s gotta fill in for Holt as the new precinct captain on Brooklyn Nine-Nine!
Octavia Spencer
PAST GIG: Red Band Society
NEW GIG: A burnt out public-school principal who finds herself alternately invigorated by and infuriated with Girls‘ polarizing Hannah Horvath.
Omar Epps
PAST GIG: Resurrection
NEW GIG: After playing do-rights on House and then Resurrection, we’d love to see Epps pull a 180 and bring big chills to the role of Gotham‘s Mr. Freeze.
Peter Krause
PAST GIG: Parenthood
NEW GIG: An ex-lawyer on The Good Wife who put his career on hold for personal reasons and is now looking to re-enter the profession via potential love interest Alicia’s new law firm.
Piper Perabo
PAST GIG: Covert Affairs
NEW GIG: An in-home yoga instructor — with secrets, natch — to one of the elite families on Devious Maids.
Scott Porter
PAST GIG: Hart of Dixie
NEW GIG: The comic book-loving actor simply has to be on a super show. We vote for him to play Supergirl‘s seemingly perfect new boyfriend – who turns out to be a villain.
Tyler Ritter
PAST GIG: The McCarthys
NEW GIG: The upcoming Coach revival finds Hayden Fox helping his grownup son coach an ivy league football team. Meet Coach Jr.!
Wilson Bethel
PAST GIG: Hart of Dixie
NEW GIG: Now that The Vampire Diaries‘ Matt is a newbie cop – and Sheriff Forbes is dead (RIP, Liz!), not to mention his last mentor turned out to be a crazy vamp-killer – Matty Blue Eyes and Mystic Falls sure could use a new authoritative figure. Enter Bethel’s roguishly charming enforcer of the law.
Zoe Levin
PAST GIG: Red Band Society
NEW GIG: Levin has played the patient before; now, she can play the doctor(-to-be) on The Mindy Project, as a nightmarish med student completing her residency at Shulman & Associates.
