Former O.C. star Mischa Barton will make her return to the small screen with a role on A Beautiful Life, a new CW series produced by Ashton Kutcher.

The British-born actress was originally tapped to join Ashlee Simpson-Wentz on the network’s upcoming remake of the ’90s soap Melrose Place.

“Ashton developed it about his life growing up as a model from Iowa, so it’s about the whole fashion world that he was in, and obviously I have a lot of friends in the fashion world, so I’m used to being around a lot of people in that,” Mischa told PEOPLE at a GQ magazine-hosted party to celebrate new men’s fragrance Burberry the Beat on Thursday night.

“[I play] a bitchy model-type character, like it’s a totally different character for me…..”