Leighton 'Lords over New Melrose Pilot! Plus: Meet Jake's Son

Heather Locklear may have passed on the chance to be a part of the CW's Melrose Place reboot, but Laura Leighton — who played sassy schemer Sydney Andrews on the original Fox prime-time sudser — has said yes.

Leighton will reprise her role in the pilot and then continue on as a recurring player, "if" the new Melrose gets ordered to series, says the Hollywood Reporter. Sources tell the trade that Sydney will serve as the landlord of the titular apartment complex/den of iniquity.

For those not familiar with Leighton's character, I — as someone who used to "blog" recaps for Melrose in another age of man, before this Internet thing met its promise — can sum up Sydney as an aspiring vamp whose schemes always seemed to come up short, usually because she had too big a heart. And her taste in men? Eh.

In the original Melrose's Season 5 finale, Sydney was hit by a car on her wedding day (relive it here at the 8:00 mark) and presumed dead for the remainder of the series.

Fun fact: During Leighton's Melrose run, she met her future husband, Doug Savant (formerly "Matt" and now of Desperate Housewives fame.)

The new Melrose has also filled its final series regular slot, casting Shaun Sipos (Shark, Lost Boys: The Tribe) as David, the son of Grant Show's Jake Hansen. David is described as a bad boy with smokin'-hot looks. The twist? He's been cut off from his family's fortune. ("Fortune"? What, did Shooters get franchised into malls?)

Additional reporting by Anna Dimond