'Witness Protection' Will Let 'Schitt's Creek' Star Annie Murphy Try Out Her Movie Star Chops

Alexis Rose would be proud. The woman who portrays that character on Schitt's Creek, Emmy winner Annie Murphy, is set to star and executive produce a movie called Witness Protection. Murphy has been busy with TV and streaming work, but this is her first starring role in a feature film.

Witness Protection centers on a woman who spent her life defining herself by her romantic relationships. When she's forced to enter witness protection, she has to try to figure out who she really is without a significant other to guide her. Oh, and she has to do it while maintaining her cover and dodging the bad guys. Yeesh.

The movie reunites Murphy with writers Rupinder Gill and David West Read, who worked with her on Schitt's Creek.  The original conceit for the project was developed by Alloy Entertainment, and the film will be produced by MRC Film's female-driven comedy label, headed by Palm Springs producer Becky Sloviter.

This won't be the first time Murphy has helped spearhead a project. In 2015, she wrote, produced, and performed in The Plateaus, a web series for the CBC about an indie rock band whose lead singer is killed in a freak accident. The series also features fellow funny Canadians Elisha Cuthbert and Jay Baruchel, and is streaming free on YouTube.

Murphy played the jet-setting, bubbly Alexis on Schitt's Creek for 80 episodes, winning Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for the role at the 2020 Emmys. The series would go on to win nine Emmy awards in a single year, an Emmys record. She currently stars on AMC's dark comedy series Kevin Can F**k Himself, about what it would really be like to be a beleaguered housewife trapped with a sitcom husband. (Spoilers: you might consider murder.) She's also set to have a featured role in the second season of Netflix's time loop dramedy Russian Doll. She's also recently performed guest voices on the cartoon comedies Family Guy, Robot Chicken, and American Dad.

I've loved Murphy since I first saw her on Schitt's Creek, and she's killing it (no pun intended) on Kevin Can F**k Himself. She has charisma for days and can play a wide variety of roles with nuance. (Seriously, there are worlds between Alexis and her world-weary character on Kevin.) It only makes sense that her star is rising, and I hope this is just the beginning of a superstar career for Murphy. After all, like Alexis sings in her truly terrible Schitt's Creek song: she's a Lamborghini and a Hollywood star.