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Clarice Starling, the naïve, clever FBI agent played to perfection by Jodie Foster in The Silence of the Lambs is one of the film’s most memorable characters. The character will now be revived in CBS’s “Clarice” and will be played by Pretty Little Liars actress Rebecca Breeds. Clarice takes place a year after Starling consulted with Dr. Hannibal Lecter (whose name is never explicitly mentioned on air, due to a rights issue). In the universe of the show, the FBI agent is recruited to help track other serial killers. Fans of crime-based shows are definitely going to binge-watch this one.

Breeds, who is a native of Australia, auditioned for the role knowing full well the actresses whose shoes she would have to fill. However, she didn’t allow herself to think about what Jodie Foster and Julianne Moore (who starred in Hannibal) brought to the character before she auditioned. She is set to bring her interpretation to the character, even putting on a flawless Southern accent that stays true to Clarise’s heartbreaking backstory. In an interview, Breeds stated that playing Clarice “just kind of clicked with me…It’s like a pair of shoes that I put on now.”

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Breeds only watched The Silence of the Lambs a few years ago, stating in an interview that she had resisted watching the cult classic because she felt it might be too scary. When she finally did watch it, she was blown away by how “thrilling, intelligent and clever” it was. Showrunners of Clarice have used the film as a reference point, but they have moved away from the Thomas Harris book in significant ways. The way Clarice pays homage to The Silence of the Lambs is by retaining some key characters, such as kidnap victim Catherine Martin and her mother, now playing former US senator Ruth Martin.The CBS show ‘Clarice’ will also star Kal Penn and Michael Cudlitz. Lucca De Oliveira will play Clarice’s partner Tomas Esquivel.