EXCLUSIVE: Life In Pieces alumna Giselle Eisenberg will take over the character of 10-year-old Anna-Kat on ABC’s American Housewife as the comedy series returns for a fifth season. She replaces original cast member Julia Butters who is leaving the show to pursue other opportunities.

Butters hit stardom last year following her breakout performance in Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time In Hollywood. Tarantino actually spotted Butters on American Housewife and went to cast her as the precocious child actor Trudi Fraser. Butters earned acclaim and landed a slew of nominations for her role in the movie, which opened a lot of doors for her. The young actress and her team wanted to pursue them and the studio behind American Housewife, ABC Signature, granted her request to leave the series.

American Housewife follows a mother of three (Katy Mixon) raising her flawed family in a wealthy Connecticut town. Anna-Kat is the family’s youngest daughter.

Heading into her teen years, Eisenberg is already a TV series pro. She was a series regular on another single-camera family comedy, CBS’ comedy Life In Pieces, which like American Housewife, is produced by Kapital Entertainment. The studio behind Life In Pieces, 20th Television, and American Housewife‘s ABC Signature are both part of Disney TV Studios.

Eisenberg made her feature film debut at 5, playing the daughter of Leonardo DiCaprio and Margot Robbie in The Wolf of Wall Street, directed by Martin Scorsese. She then co-starred opposite Al Pacino in Dan Fogelman’s Danny Collins. Her additional feature film credits include a lead role in the indie The Enormity of Life and supporting roles in A Most Violent Year and Sex Tape.

In TV, Eisenberg also starred in the Hallmark Channel Original movie I’ll Be Home For Christmas opposite Mena Suvari and James Brolin and recurred on the Starz series Flesh & Bone. She is repped by Paradigm.

https://deadline.com/2020/09/american-housewife-anna-kat-role-recast-giselle-eisenberg-replaces-julia-butters-exits-abc-comedy-series-season-5-1234575693/

Interesting! I liked Giselle on Life in Pieces, hopefully she does the role justice.

WTF? This is going to tank the series. I can just see how they explain Anna-Kat's new appearance. They'll probably say she gave into the public pressure of Westport and had plastic surgery so she could get normal lips or something.

There goes my idea of Danielle Panabaker having a guest starring role as an emotionally disturbed teacher who thinks Anna-Kat is her long lost daughter.

Julia Butters is charming and talented, but I don't see any new upcoming parts on her IMDb page.

WTF? This is going to tank the series. I can just see how they explain Anna-Kat's new appearance. They'll probably say she gave into the public pressure of Westport and had plastic surgery so she could get normal lips or something.

There goes my idea of Danielle Panabaker having a guest starring role as an emotionally disturbed teacher who thinks Anna-Kat is her long lost daughter.

Julia Butters is charming and talented, but I don't see any new upcoming parts on her IMDb page.

When I first heard about this, I immediately suspected or figured that there just had to be more to the story. I just can't right away accept that Julia Butters would leave the relative security of being on a successful sitcom just because she starred in a Quentin Tarantino movie and is thus, now "too big for her britches".

http://www.agcwebpages.com/BLINDITEMS/2020/SEPTEMBER.html

167. ENTERTAINMENT LAWYER 09/16 **6** (https://www.crazydaysandnights.net/2020/09/blind-item-6_16.html)

This tween actress (11 year old Julia Butters (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julia_Butters)) quit a really good gig ("American Housewife" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Housewife)) because the complaints filed against an older actor were never acted on by producers or the network. Julia Butters/"American Housewife"/PRODUCERS: Sarah Dunn, Aaron Kaplan, Kenny Schwartz, Rick Wiener/The Walt Disney Company (‘American Housewife’ Recasts Anna-Kat Role With Giselle Eisenberg As Julia Butters Exits ABC Comedy (https://deadline.com/2020/09/american-housewife-anna-kat-role-recast-giselle-eisenberg-replaces-julia-butters-exits-abc-comedy-series-season-5-1234575693/)) (Cast and characters (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Housewife#Cast_and_characters))

Speaking of former blind items:

https://www.crazydaysandnights.net/2020/01/blind-items-revealed-4_21.html

It’s like when JP Steuer’s parents removed him from Grace Under Fire because of Brett Butler’s alleged inappropriate behavior. His contract was paid out for the years he was not on the series.

'American Housewife' Winks at Anna-Kat Recasting in Season 5 Premiere Clip (https://www.etonline.com/american-housewife-winks-at-anna-kat-recasting-in-season-5-premiere-sneak-peek-exclusive-155295)

It’s like when JP Steuer’s parents removed him from Grace Under Fire because of Brett Butler’s alleged inappropriate behavior. His contract was paid out for the years he was not on the series.

I hope its not like that, the star was on drugs and flashed him.

Reading some of the comments (https://www.reddit.com/r/AmericanHousewife/comments/iwmv2k/why_did_they_change_annakats_actor/) elsewhere (https://forums.primetimer.com/topic/112537-s05e01-graduation/?do=getNewComment) online, it's quite obvious that most people still hold the simple belief that Julia Butters abruptly left the show simply because she was presumably "hot" now after appearing in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.

Think about it this way, what "other opportunities" are there for a 10-year or 11-old actress outside of maybe a Disney Channel or Nickelodeon show? I don't know if there's a lot of movies are made that feature a child in the lead role, and the few that do are usually teenagers at least. Then again, you could also argue that there are always daughter roles in indie films or coming of age stories.

The Real Reason These Child Stars Were Recast (https://www.looper.com/1530774/real-reason-child-stars-recast/)

Anna-Kat from American Housewife

https://www.looper.com/img/gallery/the-real-reason-these-child-stars-were-recast/anna-kat-from-american-housewife-was-recast-1708303010.webp

Julia Butters was the first actress to play youngest daughter Anna-Kat Otto in 90 episodes of "American Housewife" between 2016 and 2020, before being recast with Giselle Eisenberg in Season 5. Eisenberg began her career at just five years old and starred in several film and television series before joining the cast of the ABC comedy. Butters left the series to pursue other opportunities.

After Quentin Tarantino noticed Butters in the family comedy, he cast her in "Once Upon a Time In Hollywood" while she was still working on the television series. This breakthrough role introduced Butters to an even larger audience, and the young actress set her sights on a film career. After working with a legendary director like Tarantino, she wanted to work with another legend. "I want to be in a Spielberg film," Butters told The Hollywood Reporter (https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/awards-chatter-podcast-julia-butters-once-a-time-hollywood-1258517/).

Since leaving "American Housewife" Butters has worked with numerous A-list actors, such as Ana de Armas, Ryan Gosling, and Chris Evans in Netflix's "The Gray Man." Butters starred with Oscar-winner Michelle Williams in Steven Spielberg's semi-autobiographical Oscar-nominated film "The Fabelmans" as a fictionalized version of Spielberg's older sister, Anne. Butters also stars in the upcoming supernatural horror film, "Queen of Bones," which hits theaters in 2024.