Pregnancy cost a heavily-rumored ‘She-Hulk’ candidate her shot at the title role

Actor Betty Gilpin nearly landed the starring role in She-Hulk: Attorney at Law but was compelled to withdraw due to a life-changing event.

Per The Playlist, Betty Gilpin revealed that she was in the running for the role of Jennifer Walters, a woman who receives Hulk-like powers after a blood transfusion from her cousin, Bruce Banner. However, shooting the physically demanding TV series coincided with Gilpin’s pregnancy. She prioritized her and her baby’s health and dropped out of the race.

“I auditioned for She-Hulk while I was like four months pregnant. And I was like, ‘Should I do a take where I incorporate that something’s about to ‘Hulk-Out’ of me?’ Then I was like, ‘No,’ because it was at a point where we didn’t know when the pandemic was over, so I didn’t want to discount myself if they’re like, ‘We’re going to be shooting when you’re giving birth.”

Ultimately, Emmy Award winner Tatiana Maslany won the coveted role on the Disney Plus series. Gilpin and her husband welcomed their first child, a baby girl, in 2020. 

As fate would have it, showrunner Damon Lindelof (Lost) and Tara Hernadez (The Big Bang Theory) came up with Mrs. Davis, a clairvoyant concept for a sci-di dramedy about the battle between faith and technology. Development of the timely series preceded the release of Open AI and Google’s artificial intelligence chatbots.

While Gilpin lost out on the role of She-Hulk, she landed the part of Sister Simone, a motorcycle-riding nun who embarks on a quest for the Holy Grail with her ex-boyfriend Wiley (Jake McDorman) as part of her effort to be free of the intrusive, all-seeing algorithm that people have come to worship in a dystopian world. The studio has remained tight-lipped about the series, but it has successfully captivated those who have seen the preview and scored a whopping 91% from critics at Rotten Tomatoes.

Mrs. Davis premieres on Peacock today.