Photo: Maarten de Boer
MGM+ today announced it has ordered the original anthology series American Hostage (working title) from co-creator and executive producer Shawn Ryan (The Night Agent, S.W.A.T.) and co-creator and executive producer Eileen Myers (Big Love, Mad Dogs).
The 8-episode gripping series produced by Sony Pictures Television will star Jon Hamm (Your Friends and Neighbors, Mad Men) in the role of Fred Heckman and will start production in Winnipeg, Canada this Fall.
Based on the acclaimed first season of the scripted podcast of the same name, American Hostage is a psychological thriller set in the 1970s that tells the harrowing true story of Fred Heckman (Hamm), a beloved Indianapolis radio reporter who is thrust into the middle of a life-or-death crisis when hostage-taker Tony Kiritsis demands to be interviewed on his popular radio news program.
In addition to starring, Hamm will also serve as an executive producer on the series alongside Ryan, Myers, Connie Tavel, Sharon Hoffman, and Ryan’s MiddKid Productions partner, Marney Hochman. Shawn Christensen (Criminal Content) and Gabriel Mason (Criminal Content) also serve as executive producers.
“The combination of prolific producers Shawn Ryan and Eileen Myers, a singular talent like Jon Hamm, and our partners at Sony Pictures Television, is a match made in MGM+ heaven,” said Michael Wright, head of MGM+. “This is a fascinating story about real people engaged in a real-time life-or-death struggle to keep a desperate hostage situation from spinning out of control, and I can’t think of a more gifted actor on whom to center the story than Jon.”
“We couldn’t be more grateful to be making this show with our valued partners – MGM+, Shawn Ryan, Eileen Myers and Jon Hamm,” said Katherine Pope, President, Sony Pictures Television Studios. “An exploration of quiet heroism, American Hostage shines a light on our culture, revealing truths that still strongly resonate.”
_