Hollywood Reporter is reporting that
Portia de Rossi will be taking on the role of Lily Munster in NBC's Mockingbird Lane. This is a reboot of
The Munsters, a 1960's sitcom that only lasted a few seasons but grew in popularity in syndication. The original Lily Munster was played by the extremely talented
Yvonne De Carlo.
De Rossi, whose ABC comedy pilot The Smart One was passed over at the network in May, will play the vampire bride to Herman Munster (Jerry O'Connell) and the daughter of Eddie Izzard's Grandpa Munster. - Hollywood Reporter
What's interesting about this news is that Portia wasn't NBC's first choice for the role. That honor goes to
True Blood's Mariana Klaveno. According to
Deadline Mariana Klaveno had won the role but she was also attached to a pilot for ABC,
Devious Maids. NBC was so enamored with Mariana that they were willing to let her appear in both shows. In the end it appears as though ABC wouldn't accommodate their rival, and now the role is Portia's.
The pilot, written by Bryan Fuller and to be directed by Bryan Singer, is described as a reinvention of the 1960s sitcom about The Munsters, a family of “monsters” — vampires, werewolves and Frankenstein, and their “plain” cousin (Charity Wakefield) — that will feature striking visuals in the vein of Fuller’s ABC dramedy Pushing Daisies. O’Connell will play family patriarch, the handsome and gangly Herman Munster, a great dad and devoted husband. He is married to Lily, a vampire, with whom he has fathered a 10-year-old boy, Eddie (Mason Cook). Strong but sentimental, Herman works at a funeral home, and worries that Eddie’s transformation into a werewolf and burgeoning awareness of his family’s origins will crush the boy’s spirit.
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