Deadline is reporting that Cougar Town alum Gillian Vigman has been set as a series regular on The CW’s cancer dramedy pilot Life Sentence. She’ll be playing Ida, a woman who decides to follow her heart after years in an unhappy marriage and enters into a romantic relationship with her best friend Poppy.
From Richard Keith and Erin Cardillo (Significant Mother), Life Sentence tells the story of Stella (Lucy Hale), whose life was turned upside down by her recent cancer diagnosis. Still young and with a lot of dreams left unfulfilled, she decides to throw caution to the wind for the first time in her life and make the type of decisions she wouldn’t have pre-diagnosis. The thought here was that she wouldn’t be around to deal with the consequences of her recklessness, that now was as good a time as any to really follow her id, but Stella is forced to confront her actions when she finds out she’s no longer dying.
In addition to her role on the ABC/TBS comedy, Vigman has appeared on the likes of Suburgatory, New Girl, and Life in Pieces.
Life Sentence is one of six CW pilots in contention for 2017-18, joining fantasy-themed Searchers, DC-verse entrant Black Lightning, soapy reboot Dynasty, beauty pageant drama Insatiable, and military drama Valor. Casting for every project should continue over the next few weeks, while decisions on which pilots receive series orders should be announced in early May.