Move over, The West Wing, there’s a new political drama in town, and this time the women are taking the reins. Entertainment Weekly has revealed a first look at the three stars of The First Lady, an anthology series from Showtime chronicling the personal and political lives of three of the United States’ most influential women: Michelle Obama, Betty Ford, and Eleanor Roosevelt, played by Viola Davis, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Gillian Anderson, respectively.
EW has released six new stills from Showtime’s upcoming drama, showing off each of the First Ladies as they interact with both their families and with the constant swarm of public attention around them. Davis appears looking powerful as Obama alongside O-T Fagbenle as Barack Obama, forty-fourth President of the United States, as well as the three actresses playing her mother and daughters, Regina Taylor, Lexi Underwood, and Saniyya Sidney. Davis told EW that she feels “protective” of Obama, and that despite her goal of remaining objective as an actor, she still thinks the former First Lady is “just dope."
Pfeiffer appears in all her 1970s glory as Betty Ford, rushing through a crowd alongside Dakota Fanning as first daughter Susan Ford and standing alone atop a dining table in a green velvet pantsuit. Showrunner Cathy Schulman described Pfeiffer’s responsibility as an actress to be “overwhelming," considering Ford’s history of alcohol and substance abuse, for which she would later raise awareness for, in addition to promoting causes like women’s rights, abortion, and gun control.
Anderson, coming off of playing the Iron Lady, Margaret Thatcher, in the fourth season of Netflix’s The Crown, plays the longest-running of The First Lady’s titular wives, appearing as the plain but not to be underestimated Eleanor Roosevelt, who resided in the White House for twelve years, through her husband’s four presidential terms. Anderson appears in the new stills alongside Cailee Spaeny as Roosevelt’s daughter, Anna, described by director Susanne Bier as “poetic” in her journey to be both a wife and an activist.
The First Lady, also starring Kiefer Sutherland and Aaron Eckhart, will premiere exclusively on Showtime sometime in the first quarter of 2022. Check out the new stills below.
