Malin Akerman To Star In New NBC Pilot ‘Prism,’ ‘Billions’ Role Bumped To Recurring Status

Actress Malin Akerman will star in a new pilot for NBC, Prism, and will scale back her role in the Showtime series Billions.

Prism is a drama that will focus on a murder trial. What makes the show unique is that each episode is going to be told from the perspective of a different person somehow involved with the case. According to Deadline, this filmmaking technique is known as the Rashomon Effect. Japanese director and screenwriter Akira Kurosawa first used it in the award-winning 1950 film Rashomon.

“[In Prism] each new version of the facts ratchets up the mystery and the suspense, calling into question everything we have seen so far and asking if the right person is on trial. Driven by an ensemble of complicated characters, the show lets the audience ask if truth matters less than who can tell the most compelling story,” reported Variety.

Akerman has been cast as Rachel Lewis, a passionate public defender who is both “empathetic” and “ruthless.” The character is being likened to Erin Brockovich because she is also a “force of nature.”

On Instagram, the blonde beauty shared her elation about being cast in Prism.

“What a day! New project on the go that I am extremely excited about. Starring in an [NBC] show and working with a brilliant team… Get excited people, this is gonna be a good one,” she wrote on Friday, February 8.

It has yet to be revealed who Akerman’s co-stars in Prism will be.

Fans wondering how this will affect her current role in the series Billions will be disappointed to learn that, going forward, she will now only recur in the drama. She has been playing Lara Axelrod since the show debuted in January of 2016. Season 4 is slated to premiere on March 17, but it is not clear if Akerman previously filmed these episodes as a full-time Billions cast member or if she has already begun diminishing her character’s presence.

The Swedish stunner has been fortunate enough to score starring roles on both the big and small screens. She is known for movies such as 27 Dresses, Couples Retreat, and Rampage, and for appearing in televisions shows such as The Comeback, Childrens Hospital, and Trophy Wife.

Akerman is a newlywed, having married Atlantis actor Jack Donnelly on the beach in Tulum, Mexico, on December 1, 2018, as previously reported by the Inquisitr. The 40-year-old has one child, 5-year-old son Sebastian Zincone, from her first marriage to Italian musician Roberto Zincone.