Casting Couch: Lucy Hale Takes Over for Mae Whitman on "Bionic Woman"

The guessing game to see who would replace poor Mae Whitman in Bionic Woman is over.

Lucy Hale (The Apostles) has been cast in Bionic Woman, where she'll play Jamie's troubled younger sister, a role originated by Mae Whitman (Arrested Development). It was widely known that Whitman would be replaced but many thought the role would be rewritten to make Jamie's sister a hearing role.

Not so, according to the Hollywood Reporter, who reports that the role will still be that of "Sommers' deaf younger sister." Whether that's true or not remains to be seen, especially as I don't believe the producers would cast another hearing actress in a deaf role.

UPDATE: Hale's character, Becca, will not be hearing impaired and the character will now have a proficiency for computer hacking. (Hmm, Veronica Mars' Mac was too busy?)

Hale, who will be a regular on the series, joins fired Grey's Anatomy star Isaiah Washington, who will board Bionic Woman for five episodes this season.

Washington's role? An enigmatic man working for the vaguely government-controlled black ops division that created Jamie's bionic parts. It's unclear what exactly his motives are but it's he who begins to instruct Jamie in the use of her new abilities.

Let's just hope those abilities don't include on-set outbursts or false mea culpas.