After six seasons on The L Word, Jennifer Beals‘ choices for new projects include a holiday comedy, a French film, and a little movie called The Book of Eli, in which she stars opposite Denzel Washington and Gary Oldman.
“It’s a story that takes you through action and violence and dread to get to what is sweet and precious in the heart, which is hope,” Beals told WWD.
In the film, set 30 years after a horrific war has reduced Earth to a ruthless, violent wasteland, she plays Claudia, a blind woman who is married to Oldman’s character and helps Washington’s character …read more

Long after they’ve left Showtime series — and sometimes before they’ve signed on officially — certain Showtime stars leave an impression with us. That’s certainly true of Glee’s Jane Lynch (formerly of The L Word), Modern Family’s Julie Bowen (the MILF who seduced Silas on Season 4 of Weeds) and of newcomer Gabourey Sidibe, the Precious star who is rumored to have signed on for the new Showtime series The Big C.
All three ladies made an impression at last night’s SAG Awards. Check out their red-carpet looks:

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Each season of The L Word, star Jennifer Beals kept a photo journal to encapsulate her memories of working on the show. She saved the scripts, call sheets, memos and photos from each of her six years on the show, along with behind-the-scenes snapshots.
As she has with other projects she cared about, Beals gathered those materials into a memory book to give to the cast and crew when the final season of The L Word wrapped.
“Somewhere underneath the plotlines of The L Word ran our own stories of friendship and struggle,” she said. “These photographs evoke the various bonds and …read more

The L Word’s Mia Kirshner is soon to join the ranks of the undead.
Kirshner, whose ill-fated Jenny provided much of the drama in the final season of the Showtime series, has signed on for a recurring role on The Vampire Diaries.
The actress will debut on the CW series on Jan. 21, E!’s Kristin Dos Santos reports. Kirshner was a last-minute casting addition in the role of Isobel, wife of Alaric, the hot teacher played by Matt Davis.
There’s a twist, though: E! says Isobel will appear only in flashbacks and that she may already be dead — killed at the hands …read more

Cast members from two much-beloved — and, sadly, now cancelled — Showtime series will make a go of it on USA Networks, if their new pilot gets picked up.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Ethan Embry, who played Caffee family cousin Declan Giggs on Brotherhood, has been cast as a stay-at-home dad who serves as confidant to his lawyer sister in the pilot, called Facing Kate. Said sister will be played by L Word alumna Sarah Shahi, who will play Kate, a divorced San Francisco woman who leaves her job as at a law firm to become a mediator.
Images: Fame Pictures, Pacific …read more

Jennifer Beals, whom we love, love, loved as Bette Porter on The L Word, has been cast in Hallmark Channel’s TV movie The Night Before the Night Before Christmas, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The production won’t put her in the couture outfits or compromising positions she often found herself in on the L Word set. The holiday film is about the mishaps Santa Claus encounters when he leaves the North Pole a day early and crash-lands on a family’s roof.
It is currently shooting in Toronto and will premiere on Hallmark Channel for the holidays in 2010.
Since The L Word …read more

Awesome news for L Word fans: series alum Marlee Matlin is coming back to Showtime.
The Oscar-winning actress will star in a new comedy series about a high-powered law firm, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The project, called Mouthpiece, reunites Matlin with writer Carol Leifer, whose career-defining Seinfeld episode “Lip Reader” starred Matlin.
The half-hour Showtime comedy will be produced by Fox TV Studios and co-stars Mario Cantone, who we loved as Charlotte’s pal Anthony on Sex and the City.
Matlin and Cantone came up with the idea for the show and pitched it to Leifer, who knew both of them from previous projects.
“I love …read more

If you missed the drama of The L Word, take heart. Creator Ilene Chaiken has a new project in the works for Showtime. She’s in the midst of casting The Real L Word: Los Angeles, a reality show that aims to capture the lives of six lesbian women in LA.
The nine-episode project would be similar to Bravo’s Real Housewives francise, Variety reports. Showtime reps said the series depends on finding the right cast. Assuming casting goes well, the reality show would debut in 2010.
This is Chaiken’s second try at an L Word spinoff. The first, called The Farm, starred Leisha Hailey (Alice) …read more

When, oh when will the mystery of who killed Jenny Schecter really be solved?
L Word fans who weren’t satisfied with Alice taking the fall at the end of Season 6 can take heart in this bit of news: Series creator Ilene Chaiken says she expects the cliffhanger to wrap up on film, and that she’s currently writing the script for an L Word movie .
Speaking at the BlogHer convention in July, Chaiken also said it was sometimes hard to line up product placements for the show because of its content and that sex — and sexuality — were the main reasons the show …read more

After the L Word’s final season bowed this year, Pam Grier has been hanging at her Colorado farm and filming movies in New York.
While she worked on a new project co-starring Phylicia Rashad and rapper Common (we’re guessing it’s the romantic comedy Just Wright, even though she’s not on the credits list yet), Grier also took some time to sample the cuisine at the hot NYC restaurant DBGB.
As Food & Wine editor Kate Krader puts it, Grier is “a passionate foodie who keeps up with the New York restaurant scene from her Colorado horse farm” by reading New York Magazine and The …read more