Michelle Trachtenberg Once Portrayed Iconic First Lady on One of Fox’s Major Shows

Fans of Michelle Trachtenberg have been mourning all day, after it was announced that she was found dead at the age of 39. She was best known for her roles in Gossip Girl and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The Internet has spent the day posting tributes to her work, including several of her Buffy co-stars, and many fans are spending the day rewatching their favorite episodes. But what you might not know is that Trachtenberg once had a major role in a different basic-cable fantasy series—as a first lady of the United States, in fact.

In 2015, Trachtenberg guest-starred in FOX’s hit series Sleepy Hollow as Abigail Adams, the wife of U.S. president John Adams. In typical form for the series, a historical figure is revealed to have some sort of secret connection to whatever otherworldly figure the protagonists are investigating.

In this episode, protagonists Ichabod and Katrina reveal via flashback that their pal, Abigail Adams, was an amateur sleuth investigating a series of Jack the Ripper-esque murders, and she ended up sealing said murderer inside a painting. Except, uhh, the murderer got out of the painting somehow, as is once again typical for this show. It’s all very goofy, campy, and a lot of fun, as Sleepy Hollow tended to be.

“I mostly had scenes with Katia [Winter, who plays Katrina],” Trachtenberg told EW in 2015, “and we had a great time. We were mostly laughing. In fact, I was laughing and I sneezed right before a scene, and I popped out a rib from the corset. And it was totally worth it, because I looked great in those gowns. That was definitely the most fun costume to wear.”

She then went on to elaborate that it was her longest hair and makeup process ever, and it took three women to lace her into her corset. She also teased a future return as Adams, but it never came to be—Sleepy Hollow was canceled after four seasons. Still, if fans want another way to remember the actress, this one-hour period piece will do the job swimmingly.