'The Beauty' throws viewers off balance with Rebecca Hall's sudden exit and an unexpected new lead
When you sit down ready for glamour, danger, and the usual Ryan Murphy mischief, you do not expect the rug to be pulled out from under one of the show's biggest names before the popcorn cools. But FX and Hulu's 'The Beauty', kicking off with a three-episode premiere on January 21, decided to do just that. The series brings body horror, designer disease chaos, and glossy discomfort. And by the time episode 2 wrapped, viewers were left staring at their screens in disbelief. Rebecca Hall was gone. Just like that. She was replaced mid-episode by Jessica Alexander, as per Comic Book Club, stepping into the role of FBI agent Jordan Bennett and becoming the new co-lead opposite Evan Peters.
This swap landed harder because Hall wasn't some blink-and-miss-it cameo. She had been promoted as a main part of the series since at least 2024. She was standing shoulder to shoulder with Peters, Ashton Kutcher, Jeremy Pope, and Anthony Ramos when FX announced the project. She even showed up at New York Comic Con. She did press days. Everything pointed to her being in this story for the long haul. Except she wasn't. The premiere sets up Bennett as half of the investigative duo, romantically involved with Cooper Madsen, Peters' FBI agent.
Together, they're sent to Venice to look into a bizarre death that connects back to 'The Beauty'. It's the not-so-magical STD that turns people into physically flawless versions of themselves and then, inconveniently, kills them. Episode 2, titled 'Beautiful Jordan', is where things go sideways. While Cooper gets ambushed by a pair of thugs, Jordan decides to blow off steam. She meets a handsome Italian stranger at a hotel bar, flirts, laughs, and ends up back at his apartment. They hook up. The next morning, Jordan's body starts betraying her. She collapses into convulsions, breaks out in sweat, and shows every warning sign viewers are learning to associate with a beauty transformation.
Confused and terrified, she stumbles into the bathroom, where the show cuts away for just long enough to make you uneasy. When the camera returns, Jordan comes out from a strange, pod-like sack. Same character. Same badge. Different face. The woman stepping out of that pod is no longer Rebecca Hall. It's Jessica Alexander. To be fair, Alexander's casting wasn’t a secret. Her name had already been confirmed for ‘The Beauty’. For the unversed, Alexander has been gaining fame with roles in ‘Get Even’, ‘Fallen’, and most memorably as Vanessa, the human version of Ursula, in Disney's live-action 'The Little Mermaid'.
She's also appeared in 'Primate', which hit theaters this month. But what nobody knew was that she'd be inheriting one of the show's most important roles halfway through episode 2. Also, this isn't a temporary situation, a trick that gets reversed by the end of the hour. Bennett is now Alexander for the rest of the season. Meanwhile, after launching with three episodes on January 21, 'The Beauty' will continue its weekly rollout. New episodes drop Wednesdays at 9 pm ET on Hulu, while FX airs them at 9 pm ET/PT. As per IMDb, the fourth episode is set to arrive on January 28.
