Lucy Liu has boarded CBS' modern day Sherlock Holmes drama pilot, Elementary. The actress will portray Sherlock Holmes' sidekick which twists Arthur Conan Doyle's classic by switching Watson's gender to female.

The show is set in present day and stars Jonny Lee Miller as eccentric Brit Sherlock Holmes, a former consultant to Scotland Yard whose addiction problems led him to a rehab center in New York City. Just out of rehab, Holmes now lives in Brooklyn with "sober companion" Joan Watson, a former surgeon who lost her license after a patient died, while consulting for the NYPD.

Michael Cuesta will direct the pilot with CBS TV Studios producing.

This project is still in development.