Jon Hamm is adding another series to his schedule.
The Emmy winner will star in and executive produce American Hostage, a planned anthology series at MGM+. The show comes from Sony Pictures TV and creators Shawn Ryan (The Night Agent, The Shield) and Eileen Myers (Big Love, Mad Dogs). The series is based on a podcast of the same name, whose first season also featured Hamm.
The eight-episode season, based on a true story, is set in 1970s Indianapolis. Hamm will play Fred Heckman, a beloved radio reporter who finds himself in the middle of a life-and-death situation when a man named Tony Kiritsis takes a hostage and then demands airtime on Heckman’s show.
“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.”
Added Sony Pictures Television Studios president Katherine Pope, “We couldn’t be more grateful to be making this show with our valued partners — MGM+, Shawn Ryan, Eileen Myers and Jon Hamm. An exploration of quiet heroism, American Hostage shines a light on our culture, revealing truths that still strongly resonate.”
American Hostage is set to film in Canada in the fall, adding to Hamm’s already full schedule. The Mad Men star is currently in Your Friends and Neighbors at Apple TV+, which has been renewed for a second season at the streamer. He also starred in the first season of Landman at Paramount+ earlier this year; other recent credits include FX’s Fargo and Apple’s The Morning Show.
Ryan, Myers and Hamm will executive produce American Hostage with Connie Tavel, Sharon Hoffman, Ryan’s MiddKid Productions partner Marney Hochman and Shawn Christensen and Gabriel Mason of Criminal Content, which produced the podcast.
Hamm is repped by CAA, Forward Entertainment and Sloane Offer. Ryan is with CAA, The Shuman Co. and Gendler & Kelly. Myers is repped by UTA, 3 Arts and Jackoway Austen.
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