Betty Gilpin has dropped out of Impeachment: American Crime Story due to scheduling conflicts brought on by the pandemic, with Cobie Smulders stepping in to play Ann Coulter, per Variety. The former How I Met Your Mother and recurring Marvel Cinematic Universe star joins an already impressive ensemble, and the first trailer for the series recently debuted ahead of a September 7 premiere on FX.
In a recent Collider interview, Gilpin revealed her disappointment at having to step away from the role after she had spent a year listening to audio recordings of the conservative media pundit in order to master the accent.
Impeachment is the third installment in the American Crime Story anthology after The People v. O.J. Simpson and The Assassination of Gianni Versace, and the second to be based on a book by Jeffrey Toobin, with A Vast Conspiracy: The Real Story of the Sex Scandal That Nearly Brought Down a President serving as the inspiration for the latest season.
The Simpson and Versace installments nabbed a combined haul of four Golden Globes and sixteen Emmys, so Impeachment will be hoping to match the levels of critical acclaim that's greeted the first two American Crime Stories. In keeping with tradition, the cast is suitably stacked and features Beanie Feldstein as Monica Lewinsky, Sarah Paulson as Linda Tripp, Clive Owen as Bill Clinton, Margo Martindale as Lucianne Goldberg, Billy Eichner as Matt Drudge, Anthony Green as Al Gore, Edie Falco as Hillary Clinton, Annaleigh Ashford as Paula Jones, as well as Judith Light and Colin Hanks in parts that remain undisclosed.
We'll see how Smulders fares as Coulter when Impeachment: American Crime Story premieres one month from tomorrow on September 7.