Britt Robertson‘s casting in upcoming series For the People has been met with some controversy, but now producer Paul William Davies is explaining the decision.
The 27-year-old actress stepped out at the show’s panel at the 2018 Winter TCA Tour on Monday (January 8) at The Langham Huntington in Pasadena, Calif.
She was joined by her cast mates Ben Rappaport, Jasmin Savoy Brown, Rege-Jean Page, Vondie Curtis-Hall, Anna Deavere Smith, Wesam Keesh, Susannah Flood, Hope Davis, Ben Shenkman and executive producer Shonda Rhimes.
During the panel, Paul explained race was not a factor in recasting former lead Britne Oldford and giving the part to Britt.
“It really wasn’t [a factor], because it wasn’t like we moved from Britne to Britt. We moved through a tracking period, looking at other actresses. And part of it was just redefining the role of Sandra. She plays a little bit differently than she did in the original version,” Paul explained.
He added, “There was discussion with the network about the creative direction of the show. And so in the context of that, I ended up rewriting things. We also decided, just in the nature of the chemistry, that we would recast.”
