Apple’s Lady in the Lake adaptation has lost one of its Oscar-winning leads. Lupita Nyong’o has departed the production per a report from Variety, leaving Natalie Portman without a co-star. The two had been slated to star in the limited series back in 2021, but now the search is on to find a new co-lead. Filming is currently underway on the Endeavor Content production in Baltimore, Maryland.
Nyong’o was slated to play the role of Cleo Sherwood, the titular lady in the lake whose murder Portman’s Maddie Schwartz is investigating and whose ghost she disturbs in the process. There’s currently no indication of why Nyong’o exited the production, but it does mark the second occasion in recent memory in which she left a high-profile role behind. In 2020, scheduling conflicts at the peak of the pandemic saw the actress leave another novel adaptation of the Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie book Americanah.
Lady in the Lake stars Portman alongside Y’Lan Noel, Mikey Madison, and Brett Gelman in an adaptation of Laura Lippman’s 2019 novel. Set in the 1960s, the limited series will see Maddie, an ordinary housewife and mother, completely change her path in life, becoming an investigative journalist in an attempt to solve the murder of Cleo, a dedicated woman balancing motherhood, multiple jobs, and a deep involvement in Baltimore’s Black progressive agenda. Maddie’s investigation puts the two on a collision course, with Maddie seemingly the only person that cares to find out how and why Cleo died.
Honey Boy director Alma Har’el created the series, which she also helms and executive produces under her new banner Zusa alongside her production partner Christopher Legget. Nambi Kelly, Briana Belser, Sheila Wilson, and Boaz Yakin all helped write, with Yakin executive producing as well. Portman is also on as an executive producer with production partner Sophie Mas. Rounding out the executive producers is Nathan Ross and the late Jean-Marc Vallée through the latter’s Crazyrose banner alongside Amy J. Kaufman and Julie Gardner for Bad Wolf America. Lady in the Lake author Lippman also serves as executive producer.
Nyong’o represents a massive loss for the series given her vastly decorated career. She picked up her lone Oscar win for 2013’s 12 Years a Slave, but recent years have been plenty kind to her nonetheless. She counts the modern Star Wars trilogy among her recent work, and she took the lead role as Adelaide Wilson in Jordan Peele‘s horror smash Us. Looking forward, she’ll reprise her role Black Panther as Nakia in the upcoming sequel Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.
Lady in the Lake is now in a race to find its new Cleo, but whoever is chosen will have some massive shoes to fill opposite of Portman on the Apple TV+ limited series, which currently has no release date.
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