AP Photo, AP Photo/Jennifer Graylock"She's almost signed."
That's what inside sources tell me about the casting of ingenue Gretchen Mol on ABC's high-profile new series Life on Mars—that she's in final negotiations to play Annie, a possible love interest for leading man Jason O'Mara (most recently of Grey's Anatomy, which will serve as a lede-in to Mars).
The deal is expected to close tonight or tomorrow, and if/when it does, Mol will join O'Mara, Harvey Keitel and Michael Imperioli in the cast of the U.S. remake of the hit British series about a detective who gets hit by a car and winds up in the year 1973.
Mol's character, Annie Cartwright, is a pretty, young policewoman in the '70s who helps Sam Tyler (O'Mara) acclimate to his new world. In return for making him feel at home (not to mention, less like he's cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs), forward-thinking Sam helps Annie get ahead in the male-dominated police department.
Want more dish on Life on Mars, the U.K. version of which is easily one of the smartest series I've ever seen? Press play below on my one-on-one interview at Comic-Con with O'Mara and executive producers Josh Appelbaum and Andre Nemec (whom we already know and love from October Road).
Mars premieres Oct. 9 at 10 p.m. on ABC.
Meanwhile, do you agree that Gretchen's a good fit? They make a pretty hot couple, no?