Mary Elizabeth Winstead to star in brain-eating alien CBS series BrainDead

Last Updated on July 22, 2021

Back in July, we learned that CBS had ordered 13 episodes of a new series called BRAINDEAD, which has a very intriguing plot description:

BrainDead follows a young fresh-faced Hill staffer getting her first job in Washington, D.C. and discovering two things: 1. The government has stopped working, and 2. alien spawn have come to earth and eaten the brains of a growing number of Congressmen and Hill staffers.

With the announcement of the actress who will be playing the “fresh-faced Hill staffer”, BRAINDEAD is now looking all the more appealing: Mary Elizabeth Winstead is set to headline the comic thriller/sci-fi drama as

Laurel, the daughter of a Democratic political dynasty who left the Capital to become a documentary filmmaker but is pulled back into the family business when her brother, the senate majority whip, needs her help running his senate office.

This is great news as far as I’m concerned. Not only does Winstead have a whole lot of genre work on her résumé (including WOLF LAKE, MONSTER ISLAND, THE RING TWO, FINAL DESTINATION 3, the 2006 BLACK CHRISTMAS, the DEATH PROOF half of GRINDHOUSE, 2011’s THE THING, ABRAHAM LINCOLN: VAMPIRE HUNTER, and A&E’s THE RETURNED), she’s also one of my favorite actresses working today. Pair her casting with a very fun concept and it makes BRAINDEAD a show that I will be tuning in to for sure.

Created by Robert and Michelle King of THE GOOD WIFE, BRAINDEAD is set to premiere on CBS in the summer of 2016.