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Transgender actor, writer, producer and activist Jen Richards has joined the cast of CBS’ Clarice.

Originally just hired to consult on the show, Richards found herself on the other side of the cameras. “All I can say is that the character intersects with Clarice’s storyline in a way that her transness isn’t central to her storyline, but her identity as a trans woman prompts her to discuss with Clarice the complicated legacy of Buffalo Bill,” Richards said during the virtual premiere event.

One of the intentions of the series is to “address the complicated, horrible legacy in a way that didn’t reduce it to that one issue,” as well as including a  “trans character that was part of the story but didn’t reduce it to a stereotype.” She had been horrified by people seeing trans people as being like Buffalo Bill in The Silence of the Lambs, this  “incredibly monstrous person who literally steals the female form and tries to embody it. It was really complicated to try and overcome that first perception of other people.”

Clarice starts on February 11th on CBS.