Dan Stevens replaces Armie Hammer in Julia Roberts-starrer 'Gaslit'

Actor Dan Stevens has joined the cast of Julia Roberts- starrer 'Gaslit', replacing Armie Hammer in the upcoming Starz series.

As per Variety, Stevens joins previously announced cast members, Roberts and Sean Penn in 'Gaslit', which will tell the story of the Watergate scandal.

Roberts will star as Martha Mitchell, the protagonist and the celebrity Arkansan socialite who was one of the first to publicly sound the alarm on Nixon's involvement in Watergate in spite of her affiliation to the president via her husband, Attorney General John Mitchell, who will be played by Penn.

Stevens will star as John Dean. Described as a hotshot upstart, Dean is the young White House Counsel torn between his ambition and his struggle with whether he can lie to protect the President.

Hammer had previously been cast as Dean, but it was later announced that he was no longer involved with the project when it was picked up to series in February.

'Gaslit' is based on the award-winning Slate podcast 'Slow Burn'. It will be produced by UCP. Robbie Pickering serves as creator and showrunner. Matt Ross will serve as director and executive producer.

Sam Esmail, via his overall deal with UCP, and Chad Hamilton serve as executive producers under their production banner Esmail Corp. Roberts will executive produce under her banner Red Om Films along with co-executive producers Lisa Gillan and Marisa Yeres Gill.

The series is written by Pickering, Amelia Gray, Alberto Roldan, Anayat Fakhraie, Uzoamaka Maduka and Sofya Levitsky-Weitz. Karen Bailey, executive vice president of original programming at Starz, will oversee the upcoming series for the Lionsgate-owned network.

Meanwhile, Stevens previously starred in the hit British drama series 'Downton Abbey' as well as the FX-Marvel series 'Legion,' with other TV credits including 'High Maintenance' and 'Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts'.

On the film front, he most recently starred in 'I Am Your Man' and previously starred in one of the title roles of Disney's live-action remake of 'Beauty and the Beast.' He also appeared in the Netflix film 'Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga'.

Hammer's career began to implode in January when the actor became the subject of a social media controversy after screenshots that seemed to show the actor describing sexual fantasies involving rape and cannibalism surfaced online.

Since the scandal, multiple women have come forward and accused Hammer of emotional abuse, mpulation, violence, and, most recently, rape.

Hammer has also bowed out of 'The Offer', Paramount+'s drama series about the making of The Godfather. He was replaced by Josh Duhamel in 'Shotgun Wedding', the romantic comedy he was set to star in opposite Jennifer Lopez. Hammer has also been dropped by his agency, WME and his personal publicist.

( With inputs from ANI )