‘Dead Inside’: Lyndon Smith Gets CW Pilot Lead, Replaces Joey King

Lyndon Smith (Parenthood) has been tapped as the lead Emmy in the CW supernatural cop drama pilot Dead Inside, from writer Katie Lovejoy and producer Bill Lawrence. She replaces Joey King who had been originally cast in the role opposite male lead Freddie Stroma.

The casting change was made after the table read. At 18, King is about a decade younger than Emmy’s age as the character had been conceived.

In Dead Inside, penned by Lovejoy and directed by Michael Patrick Jann, after surviving an explosion that killed her hotshot detective big brother, Zach Gates (Stroma), Emmy Gates (Smith), an underachieving beat cop, starts seeing his ghost, flipping their sibling dynamic on its head and allowing her to truly live her life for the first time, as they work together to help crime victims both living and dead, and figure out the unfinished business keeping his spirit on Earth.

Smith’s Emmy Gates is tougher and stronger than she thinks she is, and what she lacks in confidence, she makes up for with determination, humor and snark. Emmy’s life is turned upside down when her brother dies and returns to her as a ghost, forcing her to team up with him to solve a murder and resolve his unfinished business.

Lovejoy executive produces Dead Inside with Doozer’s Lawrence and Jeff Ingold.

Smith recently had a season-long recurring role on Showtime’s comedy series White Famous and also recurred on the CW’s Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. She is known for her recurring role on NBC’s Parenthood and was a series regular on Ed Burns’ drama Public Morals on TNT. On the feature side, Smith was recently seen in Netflix’s Step Sisters. She is repped by Gersh and Main Title Entertainment.