Why Hollywood Won't Cast Jessica Alba Anymore

Jessica Alba is known primarily as an actor in feature films, but her first major starring role came in a network television series. In 2000, Alba headed up the cast of Dark Angel, a heavily hyped Fox science-fiction series co-created by Titanic and Terminator director James Cameron. Set in a cyberpunky, post-apocalyptic America, Alba played Max Guevera, also known as X5-452, a genetically-enhanced child who escaped from her facility and adopted a life as a young adult who motorcycles around the Pacific Northwest looking for other former lab kids and avoiding nefarious government agents. Dark Angel received good reviews, but it just couldn't attract much of an audience. In its first season, Dark Angel finished in 67th place among all network shows, and fell to 105th place in its second season. Fox canceled the show at that point, and Alba moved on, although touched with the impactful stigma of being the face of a high-profile small-screen flop. TV producers may still be reluctant to cast Alba as the sole lead of a show, on account of how her big chance with that situation led to middling results.