At last!! Some great casting news has come from The CW‘s planned remake of Melrose Place … after learning that Ashlee Simpson would be joining the cast (which may or may not be good news) but that Heather Locklear as well as Marcia Cross and Courtney Thorne-Smith would NOT be returning to Melrose Place we learn today that the other red-headed vixen, Laura Leighton, as signed on to reprise her role as Sydney Andrews when the redux hits the airwaves this Fall. While Heather Locklear won’t be reprising her devilishly bitchy character Amanda Woodward, Leighton‘s reprisal of Sydney Andrews is a pretty good runner up:
After weeks of speculation about who if any of the original “Melrose Place” cast members might drop in on the CW’s new “Melrose Place,” Laura Leighton has joined the CW pilot as a recurring. She will reprise her role as the irresponsible and scheming Sydney Andrews, one of the most popular characters on the Fox series. In the dramatic fifth-season finale of “Melrose Place” in 1997 – and Leighton’s last episode on the show — Sydney was run over by a car on her wedding day in a near-fatal accident. While she was presumed dead for the rest of the Fox series, she now is back at Melrose Place, and while the script is being kept under wraps, sources said she would be the landlord to the new crop of tenants. Leighton’s casting on CW’s “Melrose” is reminiscent of the CW’s tapping of “Beverly Hills, 90210″ alumna Jennie Garth to reprise her role on the new “90210.” Leighton’s two-episode stint on the original “Melrose Place” in 1993 was her first acting gig. It led to a full job on the series for four years. On “Melrose,” Leighton also met her husband, co-star Doug Savant, now on ABC’s “Desperate Housewives.” After finishing her contract on “Melrose Place,” Leighton recurred on “Beverly Hills” alongside Garth. Leighton, who next stars in Hallmark Channel’s movie “The View From Here,” is repped by APA and Untitled.
Finally, some good news. I love that Sydney was “left for dead” all those years ago and that she will rise again for the redux. Brills. I had no idea that Leighton was married to Doug Savant … perhaps Leighton‘s involvement will lead to Savant‘s return to Melrose as well. While Savant‘s character Matt Fielding was the most ungay gay character on TV in the 1990′s, there is still time for him to reprise his role and give his character a little man-on-man action to make up for all the action Matt Fielding wasn’t getting back in the day ;) But, I digress. News of Laura Leighton‘s return to Melrose Place is the best casting news of the series so far for me. Sydney is a crazy beyotch and I’m now really looking forward to having her back on TV. Woot!!
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Can I second that from the rooftops? Sydney RULES!
She was such a great evil little bitch, so misguided, such a back-stabber/husband stealer to her poor, dear, sweet sister Jane, and just so damn hot! I will totally watch this knowing she’s back for the remake.
I totally don’t remember her being on 90210, though… I musta stopped watching at that point I guess.
It’d also be great I think if the producers bring back Lexy, but I think she just signed on with All My Children or something like that.
I appreciate your digression, Trent! It was such a SCAM when FOX censored Matt’s on-screen kiss with his boyfriend! They promo’d that for weeks leading up to it and then it was a huge letdown. I wonder who the gayz’ll be on the new series?
Can’t wait!
hell yea! can’t wait! =]
TSK, TSK Trent! First, you did not know of the fab 90′s band 3Deep and now you are just discovering the Leighton-Savant pairing! And here I have to come rely on you for the best goss!
P.S. I think Leigh-vant have like 3 kiddies too!
Umm, matt is totally dead right ? they killed him in an off-camera car accident towards the end of the series when he wasn’t even a cast member anymore so that they could do the whole, what secret did matt keep in his diary about Amanda malarkey. And Sydney was TOTALLY dead. I mean, her fiance went off an killed himself he was so distraught, and she never went and told her sister? thats just lame …
I would love to see Alyssa Milano reprise her role too along with Grant Show.
Sweet butta. This is kind of random, but my mom worked with Laura Leighton’s stepdad in Des Moines, IA for years (decades even) up until a couple of years ago when she semi-retired. When Laura Leighton was dating Grant Show before Doug Savant, Grant Show would call the office wanting to speak to Laura’s stepdad (Dr. Scepum or something like that–it’s kind of crazy last name spelling but that’s it phonetically) and all the office ladies would of course giggle and all be atwitter about him calling and talking to him. True story.
@ Kent…..Laura Leighton was in season 9 of 90210….she played Sophie for a very short time. She wanted to make it big in Hollywood and she used Steve and then dated David. She left him for a rich guy she only knew for like a day. haha
@JeniLee — Considering MP is a spin-off of BH, 90210 – did Jennie Garth’s character Kelly Taylor ever say to Leighton’s BH, 90210 character Sophie, “Hey, you look a lot like Sydney Andrews who used to live at Melrose Place”?
OMFG I’m so excited, too! When Sydney was killed off the original MP, I was pissed as hell. I’m glad she came back, and now I’ll actually WANT to watch the show. When I read Ashlee Simpson was on, I dreaded watching it. But now, I’ll DVR it.
BTW, bringing back dead characters is nothing new for soap operas. The original MP brought back Kimberly from the dead and would’ve again if Marcia hadn’t refused. :P
And of course there are idiosyncracities with these shows. There are some within MP itself! And Rob Estes was on MP as Kyle yet is a high school principal from Kansas (not Boston) in the new 90210.
@Trent – Ha! Too true. Same thing goes for sister soaps Y&R and B&B.
It’s like Eric saying to Donna on B&B that she looks alot like that slut Grace from Genoa City whom he must have heard about at some point from perhaps Lauren or Amber. Or wait, maybe he heard about it from Katie who also just so happens to look a helluva lot like the first born daughter of his midwest counterpart Victor.
@JeniLee – thx for the update… yup, I was def done with the show by then. I had moved on to shows like Ellen, Ally McBeal, Will & Grace… and I remember lamenting there were no longer any primetime dramas (soaps) to get all caught up in.
Ok, I’m really sorry but I just cannot stay away from this thread today … the return of LL has me very happy.
But now I just read that Thomas Calabro is coming back too!!
Sadly they killed off Matt in the last season or so in an off camera accident. Trent you have to watch the last seasons and get caught up before the new show starts. I do think it would be great if Matt could comeback somehow. I was glued to the TV as a teen because he was the only gay character I had ever seen on tv in a semi-positive light despite his never really getting anything beyond a hug from a guy. TV has come a long way since then thankfully.
They should just make the last season of Melrose Place a bad dream! Bring back the good characters!! Sydney, Jane, Jo, Amanda, Allison, Kimberly, Matt, This is when Melrose place was good!! Were the producers smoking crack towards the last days???? I love Sydney, she was my favorite because she was bad, but mostly misunderstood. She was hillarious!! She was evil but you werent afraid of her like you would be of Amanda and Kimberly. Thats why i loved her. She was the underdog of the super bitches! You wanted her to succeed even if it meant for her to be bad. Im sorta worried about her role being reprised becuase it’s on another network, different writtersand producers and such. Will it still be sydney? Also, she needs to have good co-actors to make it work. Ill watch, but im nervous.