Cool dude Billy Zane will soon see if he can keep his cool in a courtroom as Deadline reports that the Zoolander II actor has been cast as one of the leads in ABC Family’s Guilt. He’ll play defense attorney Stan Gutterie, who’s been banished to England for pissing off too many U.S. judges. Gutterie will presumably end up defending Grace (newcomer Daisy Head), an American girl in London who is accused of murdering her Irish flatmate. Zane razzle-dazzled a Broadway courtroom in a 2002 production of Chicago, so he’s probably somewhat prepared to represent an accused murderer again (on a fictional basis).
Other series regulars include Copper’s Kevin Ryan, Zachary Fall (Crossing Lines), and Katrina Law, who plays Nyssa Al Ghul on Arrow. The show is being written and produced by Nichole Millard and Kathryn Price, who previously tag-teamed the script for the Dwayne Johnson vehicle The Game Plan.
The drama has seen a slight change in format—though Guilt was initially pitched as more of a mystery show in which episodic discoveries would flesh out the storyline, it’s now being described as an “edgy, soapy thriller.” There’s probably plenty of room for those two concepts to overlap, though, as the plot is inspired by the story of Amanda Knox who, while in Italy, was convicted and later acquitted of her roommate’s murder.