Fans excited to see British actor Paul Bettany make his American TV series debut as famed human sexuality expert and educator William Masters on the Showtime series MASTERS OF SEX received bad news today. Deadline confirmed that Bettany pulled out of the series after signing just two months ago.
With Bettany out of the project, series screenwriter and executive producer Michelle Ashford and Sarah Timberman and Carl Beverly began seeking out a new lead to play Masters, who co-founded the landmark Reproductive Biology Research Foundation at Washington University in St. Louis with fellow researcher Virginia E. Johnson and co-wrote the landmark books Human Sexual Response and Human Sexual Inadequacy.
Deadline also reported that Bettany enjoyed casting approval of the role of Virginia E. Johnson but it looked likely that the producers would retain casting decisions this time around.
Bettany ws last seen alongside Maggie Q in the Screen Gems vampire thriller Priest and the financial drama Margin Call, after major film roles including Wimbledon, A Beautiful Mind, and Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World.
Up next for Bettany are the police drama Blood and portraying the voice of the super computer Jarvis in the Marvel Universe blockbuster The Avengers.