Indulge me while I do something completely out of character: Toot my own horn. As you know, back in August I publicly pressured Brothers & Sisters executive producer Greg Berlanti to cast his former Everwood ingenue Emily VanCamp in the pivotal role of Rebecca, the 20-year-old byproduct of Holly’s affair with Nora’s late hubby, William. Jump ahead five months and guess who was just tapped to play Rebecca? That’s right — Emily freakin’ VanCamp! “The truth is, you do deserve some credit,” Berlanti concedes. “The candlelight vigil you’ve had for her in this role really made a difference.” Of course, it’d be disingenuous for me to not point out that VanCamp — who makes her debut on Feb. 18 — also had the support of some other influential players, namely Berlanti, fellow executive producer Ken Olin, and VanCamp’s TV mom, Patricia Wettig. “Patty is over the moon,” declares Olin of his real-life wife and colleague. “She loves her.” So how’s the woman at the center of this lovefest feeling about all this attention (read: pressure)? Let’s ask her!

Ausiello: Congratulations! Are you psyched?
Emily VanCamp: I am. It’s been so crazy. It all happened in one day, so I haven’t really had time to wrap my head around it. But it’s so exciting.

Ausiello: You were in the running, out of the running, back in the running, and then you got it. What the heck happened?
VanCamp: There was talk about it a couple of months ago, first in your column [Laughs], and then I heard it from some other people. But nothing ever was set in stone. There was never a real offer on the table, so I kind of put it out of my mind. And then it all just came together at the last minute, which is how things typically happen for me.

Ausiello: Did you have to audition?
VanCamp: No, [which] was incredibly flattering. Greg and I obviously worked together for four years on Everwood, so he has a really good sense of who I am and what I have to offer. I think he had confidence that I would fit in well.

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Emily VanCamp (“Everwood”) will join the cast of the hit drama series “Brothers & Sisters” as a series regular later this season in her second time teaming with executive producer Greg Berlanti. VanCamp will play Rebecca Harper, the daughter of William Walker (Tom Skerritt) and mistress Holly Harper (Patricia Wettig), whose existence has been kept secret for twenty years. The series airs Sundays (10:00-11:00 p.m., ET) on the ABC Television Network.

The cast of “Brothers & Sisters” also includes Calista Flockhart as Kitty, Rachel Griffiths as Sarah, Sally Field as Nora Holden, Ron Rifkin as Saul Holden, Patricia Wettig as Holly, Balthazar Getty as Thomas, Dave Annable as Justin, Matthew Rhys as Kevin, John Pyper-Ferguson as Joe, Sarah Jane Morris as Julia and Kerris Lilla Dorsey as Paige.

Ken Olin (“Alias,” “thirtysomething”), Jon Robin Baitz (“The Substance of Fire,” “The West Wing”) and Greg Berlanti (“Everwood”) are executive producers. The series is produced by Touchstone Television.

Source: ABC

For those of you who have not seen Brothers & Sisters, I highly recommend that you watch it. I only started watching the show because I knew Emily got the part but even if she didn’t get it, I think I would’ve continued watching anyway. It’s really good! You can watch all the episodes that have aired so far (13) for free over at abc.com. The downside is that this feature is ONLY available to people in the U.S., so my apologies to fans everywhere else but hopefully the show will start to broadcast in your area soon!

I have added three episode stills from the episode where she makes her first appearance, entitled “Love Is Difficult”. It will air in a few weeks. She looks absolutely GORGEOUS!!!

Mark your calendars! Emily will appear at the very end of her first episode of B&S!

FEB 18TH – “Love Is Difficult”
Sunday at 10/9c