Ashlee Simpson Joins Melrose Place Spinoff and Cynthia Watros Joins Gossip Girl Spinoff

Ashlee Simpson and Libby From Lost Nab Jobs at the CW

March 9, 2009

The CW has two pretty high-profile spinoffs in the works for the Fall TV season — one of Gossip Girl, one of Melrose Place — and over the past couple of days, they've gotten busy adding some big names to their casts:

Ashlee Simpson has nabbed a role in the Melrose Place spinoff, returning to the network that gave her a breakout job on 7th Heaven. In Melrose, she'll play Violet, "a bright-eyed but shrewd small-town girl and recent LA transplant who has come to town with a secret." She joins Michael Rady and Katie Cassidy in the ensemble.
Meanwhile, Cynthia Watros, aka Libby from Lost, will play Celia "CeCe" Rhodes in the Gossip Girl spinoff, tentatively titled Lily. She'll be the '80s version of awesome grandma CeCe played by Caroline Lagerfelt in the present-day GG. Meanwhile, the show has also added Ryan Hansen (Dick from Veronica Mars) as Shep, who's got a futile crush on Lily's sister, Carol (Krysten Ritter).

So, what do you make of Ashlee's return to full-time acting? And could you imagine Cynthia Watros, Brittany Snow, Kelly Rutherford, and Blake Lively all being related?

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14 Comments

Pop Champagne 4 years 10 weeks

Wow Ashlee Simpson got a job... Did they run out of real actresses in Hollywood?

Pop Champagne 4 years 10 weeks

Wow Ashlee Simpson got a job... Did they run out of real actresses in Hollywood?

misslilad 4 years 10 weeks

me too, fashionplate

misslilad 4 years 10 weeks

me too, fashionplate

fashionplate525 4 years 10 weeks

She was just alright on 7th Heaven, but I wish they would have cast a REAL actress.

POPSUGAR Tech 4 years 10 weeks

Cynthia Watros as young Grandma CeCe is brilliant! So dead-on.

care0531 4 years 10 weeks

I am not a big fan of Ashlee but I did like her on 7th Heaven. I saw her on several episodes before she popped onto the music scene. It should be good- I just hope she doesn't go changing her hair style and color all the time like she does in real life.

emalove 4 years 10 weeks

I'm just not an Ashlee Simpson fan...but I do like the woman who played Libby on Lost.

ilanac13 4 years 10 weeks

well i actually liked her on 7th heaven but i don't know if i'll like her as much now. i guess some of the intrigue that she had is gone since we've seen her around so much since then. few people realized who she was back in the day.

kaykayelle 4 years 10 weeks

I'm trying to think if Ashlee was ever on an ep of 7th Heaven that Katie Kassidy was on.Anyway, weird choice. I think that show is going to be a bust anyway. We'll see.

kaykayelle 4 years 10 weeks

I'm trying to think if Ashlee was ever on an ep of 7th Heaven that Katie Kassidy was on. Anyway, weird choice. I think that show is going to be a bust anyway. We'll see.

kscincotta 4 years 10 weeks

I'm a bit puzzled by the casting of Ashlee Simpson. I've never watched any episodes of 90210 or Melrose, but it's my impression that those are generally more ensemble-based shows. Casting someone who's celeb status is so much bigger than the rest of the cast could really throw off that dynamic, I would think.