Kate Beckinsale replaces Isla Fisher in dark comedy series Guilty Party for Paramount +

Kate Beckinsale is gearing up to star in the new dark comedy series Guilty Party for the Paramount + streaming service.

The 47-year-old brunette beauty is replacing Isla Fisher, who Deadline reports was cast in March but pulled out due to COVID-19 concerns. 

There is no word quite yet on when Guilty Party will start production, or when it may debut on Paramount +, which will be the new name for CBS All Access in 2021. 

Beckinsale is portraying Beth Baker, a discredited journalist who tries for a career comeback by following a unique story.

She latches on to a young mother who is sentenced to death for maiming and murdering her husband, though she claims she did not commit the crimes.

Baker tries to get to the bottom of the story, where she has to deal with, ‘Colorado gun smugglers, clickbait culture, the doldrums of marriage and her own tarnished past.’

The series was written by Rebecca Addelman (Dead To Me), with Trent O’Donnell (No Activity) attached to direct.

The writer and director will both serve as executive producers alongside Mosaic’s Sam Hansen and Jimmy Miller, Funny Or Die’s Joe Farrell, Jim Ziegler, Mike Farah and co-executive producer Becca Kinskey. 

CBS Studios is producing the new series, in association with Funny or Die and Mosaic. 

The show was greenlit back in March, where Adelman called the show a, ‘genre-bending show that tackles contemporary issues – the prison system, the death of print journalism and pervasive gun culture, to name a few – but has, at its core, smart, funny, ambitious and deeply complicated female characters.’ 

Beckinsale had worked almost exclusively in feature films before her first TV role in last year’s Amazon Prime Video series The Widow.

She also has two films in post-production, Jolt with Jai Courtney, Bobby Cannavale, Stanley Tucci and Laverne Cox, and El Tonto with John Malkovich, Travis Fimmell and Jillian Bell. 

Fisher stars in the new Disney Plus movie Godmothered alongside Jillian Bell, which debuted earlier this month on the streaming service.

She also stars in Back to the Outback, revisiting her Australian roots with Aussie stars Guy Pearce, Eric Bana and Jacki Weaver.

The actress also recently teased that she will be returning for a sequel to her 2005 comedy hit Wedding Crashers with Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson.