Grey's Anatomy star Sarah Drew will be returning to screens in a new TV project.
The actor, best known for playing April Kepner in the hit medical drama, has landed the lead role in new series Mistletoe Murders, based on a fiction podcast of the same name (via Deadline).
Drew will play Emily Lane, the owner of small-town festive store Under the Mistletoe, who investigates murders in her spare time with a local police detective and his teen daughter.
Related: Grey's Anatomy set to lose another cast member in season 21
"On the surface, Emily is a perfectly lovely, good-natured mystery lover," teases the official synopsis. "But she is hiding a secret past that, if exposed, threatens to destroy the new life she has built in Fletcher’s Grove."
The TV series will be adapted from the Audible series, where How I Met Your Mother star Cobie Smulders lends her voice to Emily. The podcast spans two seasons, with Ginny & Georgia's Raymond Ablack voicing police detective Sam Wilner and Anna Cathcart of XO, Kitty playing his teenage daughter Violet.
In an Instagram post confirming her new role, Drew revealed she was "SO excited".
Filming on Mistletoe Murders is confirmed to begin in June on location in Toronto, Canada.
Related: Grey's Anatomy announces huge schedule change
Drew departed Grey's Anatomy following the season 14 finale, having appeared as Kepner for nine seasons. She was let go by show bosses in 2018, alongside Arizona Robbins actress Jessica Capshaw, with producers deciding to not renew their contracts due to "the show's creative direction".
Drew, like Capshaw, has returned to guest-star in Grey's since their exit, with Drew reprising her role as Kepner in season 18.
Aside from Grey's Anatomy, the actor has headed up a number of Hallmark movies in recent years, including One Summer and Guiding Emily, plus the festive hit Christmas in Vienna, which stands her in good stead for her next role.
There is currently no release date for Mistletoe Murders.
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Emily is an experienced entertainment writer and editor, reporting on all things TV, film, soaps and showbiz. An NCTJ-qualified journalist, with a First Class Honours degree in Journalism from the University of Sussex, Emily has previously worked at Hello magazine, BBC South News and GoodtoKnow. She joined Digital Spy as Acting Deputy News Editor in May 2023, and became Deputy News Editor the following year.
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