'Melrose' star signs up for remake

LOS ANGELES, April 6 (UPI) -- U.S. actress Laura Leighton has signed up to reprise her "Melrose Place" character of scheming Sydney in the upcoming remake of the 1990s nighttime soap opera.

Zap2it.com said it got the news from the producers of "Melrose," the new show that will air on The CW this fall if the pilot gets picked up.

Sydney supposedly died in a car wreck at the end of the fifth season of "Melrose Place," however, she somehow survived off-screen and will take over as landlady of the apartment complex where most of the new series' action will take place, Zap2it.com said.

The update of the show is also set to star Shaun Sipos, Michael Rady, Jessica Lucas, Katie Cassidy, Ashlee Simpson-Wentz, Colin Egglesfield and Stephanie Jacobson.