Ignoring the fact that most rational people would cross the street at this point to avoid anyone prefaced with the unfortunate adjective “Dexter’s”, CBS has announced that it’s casting genre actress veteran Julie Benz—lately of Defiance, Angel, and, yes, the story of everyone’s briefly-favorite-but-then-it-just-got-silly serial killer of serial killers—for its Training Day TV show.
Benz will star opposite Bill Paxton in the adaptation of Antoine Fuqua’s semi-inexplicable Oscar winner; she’ll play Holly McCabe, a kind-hearted Hollywood madam who serves as both an informant and a love interest for Frank Rourke, Paxton’s baddish senior cop. Presumably, McCabe (or possibly some of her “well-treated” brothel employees) will also help Rourke in his gradual corruption of series protagonist Kyle Craig, a young African-American rookie whose actor is still uncast.
Benz’s last regular TV gig was a recurring role on Hawaii Five-0, also on CBS; before that, she had a three-year stint on Syfy’s space Western Defiance—which, in the show’s defense, is about two seasons longer than we’ve been trained to expect a TV space Western to last.