Despite transitioning her pop star origins into a stable movie career and turning in memorable guest performances on everything from How I Met Your Mother to Entourage, one goal has always eluded Mandy Moore: Headlining a TV show. Over the years, the likable actress has been attached to star in three different comedies for ABC and a high-profile drama for CBS—none of which have come to fruition. And while that dream is still just out of reach for Moore (“Only for now,” she whispers into her antique mirror each morning), she has landed a recurring guest spot on Fox’s upcoming teen dramedy Red Band Society, at least.
Moore joins Octavia Spencer and Dave Annable as one of the several adults who offer tough love, emotional support, and probably some medical advice to the teenage patients living in a hospital pediatric ward. Moore will play the hospital’s Chief of Staff, Dr. Erin Grace—and since the Steven Spielberg-produced series also wants some romantic drama of the non-teen variety, Dr. Grace is the ex-fiancée of Annable’s character, Dr. Jack McAndrew. There’s all but guaranteed to be some will-they-won’t-they tension between the two, but no matter what happens, it likely won’t be as dramatic as the last time Moore guest starred on a medical show (Grey’s Anatomy, not Scrubs), where she had to face both a hospital shooting and undergo a colostomy reversal surgery.