A week after John Stamos was cast in Fox’s Scream Queens, another familiar actor is being added to the show. According to Entertainment Weekly, Taylor Lautner, known for his role as Jacob Black in the Twilight movies, has joined the cast as a series regular.
Lautner will be playing Dr. Cassidy Cascade, a doctor at a hospital owned by Cathy Munsch (Jamie Lee Curtis), which is where the setting of the season is. His character develops a relationship with Chanel #3 (Billie Lourd) and he has a medical condition and soon finds himself a suspect in a string of oddities that happen at the hospital.
Perhaps this is Ryan Murphy’s way of trying to get former Twihards, or at least Team Jacob fans, to watch the new season of the show.
Other cast members who are returning from the first season include Emma Roberts (Chanel Oberlin), Abigail Breslin (Chanel #5), Lea Michele (Hester) and Keke Palmer (Zayday Williams). Niecy Nash will also reprise her role as Denise Hemphill.
Before Twilight, Lautner starred in The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl. He’s also starred in Valentine’s Day, Abduction and Cheaper by the Dozen 2. Recently, he appeared in Adam Sandler’s Netflix movie The Ridiculous Six and he’s had a role in the BBC’s Cuckoo.
After finishing the Twilight movies, The Hollywood Reporter said that Lautner’s film roles weren’t coming as often due to the failure of the movie Abduction, as it was panned by critics. After that, he wasn’t offered as many roles because many producers and directors didn’t think he was worth the amount of money he was asking for.
Perhaps moviegoers couldn’t see Lautner playing a character who was fully human, as his character in Twilight was a werewolf. Maybe Lautner’s role in Scream Queens will help turn his career around as he can get a chance to show off his comedy skills as opposed to drama skills.
For Scream Queens‘ first season, the show won a Critics Choice Award for Most Exciting New Series and the show also won a People’s Choice Award for Favorite New TV Comedy.
The show didn’t do well in the same day ratings, but would have a large ratings increase when timeshifted viewing, meaning people who would watch the shows at a later time, was taken into account, which, according to The Wall Street Journal, is part of the reason that Scream Queens was renewed for its second season.
Season two of Scream Queens premieres on Tuesday, Sept. 20 at 9 p.m.