Jessica Biel is making her return to television. After appearing as Mary Camden in the WB and the CW family show 7th Heaven for the first six seasons and making sporadic guest appearances after, Biel has been cast in the pilot for the USA network’s drama The Sinner, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Biel will also be an executive producer on the show.
The show, which is based off of Petra Hammesfahr’s book of the same name, focuses on a woman who goes out and commits an act of violence in public. She continuously does this but has no idea why she’s doing it. One of the police officers in town will take a special interest in the case and will try to figure out why Biel’s character is lashing out like she is and what’s causing her to act this way since it’s so out of character for her to be acting that way.
The pilot is being written by Derek Simonds and will be directed by Antonio Campos. Both Campos and Simonds will be executive producers of the show along with Biel.
If The Sinner is picked up by the network, it would mark another gritty drama that will be airing on the network. Some of the other dramas on the network, like Mr. Robot, which was nominated for six Primetime Emmy Awards, and Queen of the South, which was just renewed for a second season, also feature a darker theme to them.
For six seasons, Biel played Mary Camden on 7th Heaven, the second oldest child and the oldest daughter. Her character was involved in many memorable storylines, including the storyline when she was hit by a car and injured her knee, making it hard for her to play basketball, which was what her character was known for. She left the show in 2003 and started acting in movie roles, including I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry, Valentine’s Day and New Years Eve. Valentine’s Day and New Years Eve were two of the holiday-themed movies that Garry Marshall directed where the characters’ stories were interwoven with each other and the characters had different connections with each other.
Biel was also in an episode of the Fox comedy New Girl and voiced herself in the Netflix animated comedy Bojack Horseman.
The Sinner hasn’t officially been picked up by USA yet and no other casting announcements have been made.