Buffy the Vampire Slayer

It's a great day for fans who are looking forward to Joss Whedon's new FOX series, Dollhouse.  The Buffy the Vampire Slayer creator's latest foray into television is about a girl named Echo, played by Eliza Dushku, who is part of an elite group of people known as "dolls."  These dolls are humans who have had their personalities wiped clean so they can be imprinted with any number of new personas, making them the perfect undercover operatives for dangerous assignments.

It was previously announced that actors such as Olivia Williams and Tahmoh Penikett (Battlestar Galactica) would be in the cast, and now two more familiar names have been announced for prominent roles:  Harry Lennix (24) and former Angel actress Amy Acker.

Lennix will play the character of Boyd, an ex-cop who acts as a bodyguard to Dushku's Echo.  Fans may remember the actor as Walid Al-Rezani in the sixth season of 24, though he's also appeared on shows such as Commander in Chief and House.

Acker, who played Fred/Illyria on Angel and also had a villainous role in the final season of Alias, will play Dr. Claire Saunders.  Saunders is the smart yet sad caretaker of the dolls who may have a crush on a nerdy programmer in the office.  This is more of a recurring role, so Acker may not appear in the pilot episode of the series.

I'm not familiar with Lennix's prior work aside from his short stint on 24, but I'm thrilled to find Acker joining the cast.  The actress truly showed off her range in the final season of Angel, so I hope there's more to her lovelorn nerd of a character than meets the eye.  Now all we need is for Buffy's Emma Caulfield to land a role in the series.

According to Whedonesque.com, the Dollhouse cast is having their first read-through of the pilot script today.  Filming is expected to begin in the near future, though it's not known when FOX will air the series.


- Don Williams, BuddyTV Staff Writer
Source: TVGuide.com
(Image courtesy of SciFi.com)