most articles are referring to heathcote as victoria winters so the "waitress" thing is confusing.
It does come across that way. Though the sites that are citing a source, are citing deadline.com, and that report is saying the female lead is a governess. It would be nice to think that everyone does their own fact checking - but 99% of the time these sites run with the same info from the same source without any concern to whether it's right, wrong, true, or complete fabrication. So, sadly, the number of sites reporting one thing vs. the number reporting another doesn't always reflect who's got the correct info and who's got it wrong.
If only it actually was otherwise...
the whole "gothic governess" angle is so pivotal to the DS mythology(not just vicki but also rachel and daphne)i'd find it stunning and disappointing if that's what they went with.
It certainly would be stunningly different if there was no vicki at all. But perhaps, if they really are going with some version of the Maggie kidnapping storyline, Vicki is still on the canvas but she's simply in a supporting role in this particular story.
But as I said, only time will tell. I'm guessing that once Shadowgram gets a chance to speak to the casting, the matter will probably be cleared up...