Paramount+ has announced that Joshua Jackson has been cast as the lead in their new Fatal Attraction series, based on the film of the same name. Jackson is set to co-lead along with Lizzy Caplan.
The series will be a re-imagining of the famous 1987 film, which starred Michael Douglas and Glenn Close. The film followed Dan Gallagher (Douglas), a married businessman who engages in an affair with an attractive book editor, Alex (Close). But after Dan tries to end his affair with Alex, she becomes unstable and attempts to ruin his marriage and his life. Jackson is set to star as Dan Gallagher, and Caplan will play his brief fling turned living nightmare.
The new re-imagining is written by Alexandra Cunningham, and comes from a story she co-wrote with Kevin J. Hynes. The new project will take a new look at the original text, reformatting the story through a more contemporary lens, exploring our current views of marriage, gender roles, and mental illness.
Of Jackson's casting, President of Paramount+ Original Scripted series Nicole Clemens said, “Joshua is an incredible talent who creates beautifully complicated characters on both the screen and stage." She continued, detailing his and Caplan's compatibility within their roles, "He and Lizzy are perfectly matched to tell a nuanced and modern narrative about the complexities of the human psyche. We’re thrilled to partner with them to bring this provocative and captivating story to a new generation.”
Caplan and Jackson are both no strangers to such morally complex roles. Joshua Jackson previously starred in The Affair, which explores similarly complicated marital (and extramarital) relationships. Caplan has an extensive history of playing morally and psychologically complex women, including her work on the Showtime series Masters of Sex, in which she played the real-life pioneering sex researcher Virginia Johnson.
Series writer Cunningham will also serve as showrunner, and will executive produce alongside Kevin J. Hynes. Amblin Television presidents Darryl Frank and Justin Falvey will also produce. No release date has been set for the series.