Fatal Attraction (TV Series)

Fatal Attraction is an erotic psychological thriller miniseries for Paramount+ . It premiered on April 30, 2023 on Paramount+.^[1]It also consisted of eight episodes for the first season.^[2]

Synopsis[]

A deep-dive reimagining of the classic psychosexual thriller and ‘80s cultural touchstone, the new series will explore fatal attraction and the timeless themes of marriage and infidelity, through the lens of modern attitudes towards strong women, personality disorders and coercive control.^[4]

Cast and characters[]

Starring[]

Lizzy Caplan as Alex Forrest^[4]
- Ivy George as young Alex
Joshua Jackson as Dan Gallagher^[5]
Amanda Peet as Beth Gallagher^[6]
Alyssa Jirrels as Ellen Gallagher^[7]
- Vivien Lyra Blair as young Ellen
Toby Huss as Mike Gerard^[7]
Reno Wilson as Detective Earl Booker^[7]
Brian Goodman as Arthur Tomlinson^[7]
Doreen Calderon as Maureen Walker^[8]

Recurring[]

Wanda De Jesus as Marcella Leyva^[9]
Jessica Harper as Sophie^[10]
John Getz as Warren^[10]
Toks Olagundoye as Conchita Lewis^[10]
David Sullivan as Frank Gallardo^[10]
Isabella Briggs as Stella^[10]
Walter Perez as Jorge Perez^[11]
David Meunier as Richard Macksey^[12]
Tiago Roberts as Gabriel Ibarra
Holley Fain as Julia Tomlinson

Guest[]

Dee Wallace as Emma Rauch^[12]
Gary Perez as Rolando Cabral^[13]
Terri Hoyos as Beatrice
Christina Kirk as Angela
Cliff Chamberlain as Stanley Forrest
Will Ropp as Elijah Acosta
Michelle Twarowska as Olena Kuzma
Josh Zuckerman as Paul
Vanessa Martinez as Jeannette Ruiz
Michael Cassidy as Clay Bishop
Brynn Thayer as Ruth Gurian
Lena Georgas as Patricia Forrest
Rondi Reed as Judge Webb

Episodes[]

Season	Episodes	First Aired	Premiere Episode	Finale Episode	Last Aired
Season 1	8^[2]	April 30, 2023^[1]	Pilot	Caregiving	May 28, 2023

Production[]

Development[]

On July 2, 2015, Fox announced that a TV series based on the film was being developed by Mad Men writers Maria and Andre Jacquemetton.^[14] However, two years later, on January 13, 2017, it was announced that the project was canceled.^[15]

On February 24, 2021, it was announced that Paramount+ planned to reboot the film as a series for their platform. It would be written by Alexandra Cunningham and Kevin J. Hynes and produced by Cunningham, Hynes, Justin Falvey and Darryl Frank of Amblin Entertainment, Stanley Jaffe, and Sherry Lansing.^[16]

On January 9, 2023, a first looks of the series, along with a series premiere date were announced. It will be premiering with two episodes on Sunday, April 30, exclusively on Paramount+ in the U.S. and Canada. Following the premiere, the remaining six episodes will be available to stream weekly on Sundays in the U.S. and Canada, and on Mondays in the U.K., Australia, Latin America, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Austria and France.^[17]

On April 30, 2023, it was stated that new Paramount+ series has the same basic plot line as Adrian Lyne‘s classic film: a married man named Dan Gallagher (Joshua Jackson) has an affair with Alex Forrest (Lizzy Caplan), who can’t accept that their relationship isn’t going to move forward. The show, however, employs multiple timelines, giving viewers a wider window into the aftermath of Dan’s actions. According to Caplan, “Our story feels so different, the cat we’re trying to skin is so different than the one that the film did that hopefully people will get the fun nods and the clear inspiration but see it as its own.”^[18]

Casting[]

On November 11,2021 Lizzy Caplan was announced to play Alex Forrest in the new series and Joshua Jackson joined as Dan Gallagher.^[19] On June 1, 2022, it was announced that Amanda Peet had joined the cast as Beth Gallagher, the loyal wife, loving mother and successful small business owner whose world unravels when her husband Dan’s (Jackson) indiscretion threatens to destroy their life together.^[6]

On June 23, 2022 it was announced that Alyssa Jirrels, Toby Huss, Reno Wilson and Brian Goodman were joining the cast, but it was not confirmed if they are series regulars or recurring.^[7]

On July 8, 2022, it was revealed that Wanda De Jesus will portray Marcella Leyva, an accomplished lawyer and political animal, who is comfortable in her position as District Attorney. In this recurring role, she will be Dan’s (Jackson) boss, who has to at times be the bearer of bad news.^[9]

On October 11, 2022 it was announced that Walter Perez joins the upcoming show in a recurring role. He is set to play the character of Jorge Perez, a sweet and caring DDA with a strong work ethic.^[11] Later that same month David Meunier and Dee Wallace were also casted in recurring roles.^[12]

On August 11, 2022 it was announced that Jessica Harper, John Getz, Toks Olagundoye, David Sullivan and newcomer Isabella Briggs have been tapped for key recurring roles on Fatal Attraction, Paramount+’s series reimagining of the classic 1980s psychosexual thriller film.^[10] Harper and Getz will play Beth’s parents, portrayed by Meg Mundy and Tom Brennan as Joan and Howard Rogerson in the movie. Whereas the characters played by Olagundoye, Sullivan and Briggs are new.^[10] Harper is Sophie, Beth’s (Peet) mother a dryly witty New England transplant who loves her daughter and granddaughter and also a cocktail. Getz is Warren, Beth’s father, who retired from the financial sector and does not suffer fools lightly. He puts up with Dan (Jackson) for Beth’s sake but isn’t impressed by Dan’s career or his ability to provide for his family. Whereas, Olagundoye plays Conchita Lewis, the head of the Victims Services Bureau and a longtime colleague and friend of Dan as well as Alex’s (Lizzy Caplan) boss. Meanwhile, Sullivan portrays Frank Gallardo, Dan’s #2 in the Major Crimes Bureau. Frank is a fast-talking prosecutor who habitually juggles a mistress and enjoys making things awkward for other people. Dan didn’t hire him and doesn’t like him but can’t fire him so has learned to live with him. Briggs plays Stella, who is described as cheerfully energetic with a warm vibe, she is welcoming and confident and disarming when she wants to be friends.^[10]

On August 22, 2022, Doreen Calderon has joined the cast of Fatal Attraction, the upcoming Paramount+ series, where she will portray Maureen Walker, Dan’s longtime assistant who worked for his father before him. She knows how he thinks and keeps in perfect stride, but also has enough cred to tease her boss once in a while.^[8]

Filming[]

On August 1, 2022, production for series officially began, and this was revealed when both Jackson and Caplan were seeing on set dressed as their characters in Los Angeles, California.^[20]

On August 30, 2022, Joshua Jackson was spotted filming scenes for the series in Downtown Los Angeles. He appears to be dressed as his character wearing a gray t-shirt and black pants for his scenes, and pairing the look with white sneakers.^[21]

Filming was revealed to have begun in the summer of 2022.^[22]

On November 9, 2022, it was revealed that Season 1 of the series had wrapped.^[13]

On December 18, 2022, an first look of Joshua and Lizzy as the new versions of Alex Forrest & Dan Gallagher was revealed exclusively by EW.^[23]

On June 13, 2023, it was mentioned how when it came to the set design, "Alex is composing and curating her life. She is very much a victim and a creation of her own imagination. As a storyteller, that felt critical to me to set her in an environment where her imagery was larger than life.Alex has had burdens and she’s made choices that cripple her. Her move to L.A. is to start with a clean slate. Part of her story is presenting herself to the world as if she’s capable, put together and controlled. Couple with the idea of purity of the white from the original film. Those two things worked psychologically. She’s matching her imposter syndrome. She’s trying to be present, as if she’s got her life completely together, when in fact, all she can do is keep things from unraveling. Inside the cupboards, everything is chaotic. There are select objects such as postcards that she loved from her childhood, and horse figurines that are also part of her childhood. Those things are displayed that could be exposed to part of her personality. There’s restricted art in her loft, black and white, not triggering. It’s more about the texture and the surfaces that come through the hopeful vista of Los Angeles. Her appliances are retro. We kept things calm and that was a lot of the anchoring aesthetics in the apartment."^[24]

On June 17, 2023, it was mentioned that although the original 80s classic was filmed in New York City, this time, Paramount Studios decided to film the entirety of the readaptation in California. Some of these locations include: Milan Avenue, South Pasadena, the Original Pantry Café located in Downtown Los Angeles and the Prince Restaurant in Koreatown.^[25]

Trivia[]

On May 17, 2022, it was announced that Silver Tree (The Flight Attendant, You) is set to direct and executive produce on the upcoming Paramount+ series Fatal Attraction.^[26]
On June 15, 2022, Jackson also took a few minutes to tease that the Fatal Attraction tv series adaptation is "an even more emotionally intense version of the story [that's] set in present day. [Which] allows us to update some of the sexual politics of the [movie], and because we have eight hours to tell the story, it also allows us to delve much more deeply into that Glenn Close character and... give a richer sense of how that woman became [who she is], and why she did the things that she did," he explains.^[2]
On November 18, 2022 Caplan revealed on Zoom call from her home in L.A., that she is preparing to wrap work on the television adaptation of Fatal Attraction before boarding a flight to New York to do press for “Fleishman Is in Trouble,” her other upcoming new series.^[27]
On November 29, 2022, Glenn Close said that she hopes “fragile” Alex’s “side of the story” is featured more prominently in the Paramount+ series, which Caplan confirmed the reboot will take a more modern approach. Caplan went onto state that, “It really shows how far we have come. I don’t think that we’ve arrived at any finish line in terms of everything that’s happened with #MeToo and what that set in motion,” Caplan said. “But the idea that you could never make the 1980s version of this now, shows some degree of progress. I think when they’re at their best, that’s what the reboot would do and hopefully our show does that.”^[28]
On November 30, 2022, Caplan also went onto state that ‘Fatal Attraction’, the original ’80s Movie could never be made today...^[29]
On December 3, 2022 it was teased that the infamous bunny scene from the original movie may be replaced. It has instead been suggested that Dan's dog might take the place of his daughter's rabbit as the target of Alex's rage because Jackson was seen running along a beach with a golden retriever in Los Angeles during the shoot.^[30]
On January 11,2023, The Television Critics Association 2023 Winter Press Tour took place, the main cast and creators, which included writer, showrunner, and executive producer Alexandra Cunningham, executive producer Kevin J. Hynes (who shares a co-story credit with Cunningham), and director/executive producer Silver Tree stopped by to discuss the aforementioned series.^[31]
On February 27, 2023, some additional teaser images were released to the public.^[32]
On February 28, 2023, a teaser trailer was revealed.^[33]
On March 14, 2023, some new promotional images, and Joshua Jackson teasing that his version of Dan will be dealing with the repercussions of his infidelity was released.^[34]
On April 3, 2023, Paramount+ released the official trailer for Fatal Attraction, which is a series reimagining of the classic 1980's psychosexual thriller film. In the trailer, Lizzy Caplan’s Alex Forrest warns Joshua Jackson’s Dan Gallagher: “I am not going to be ignored.” The series is set in the present day, following Jackson’s Gallagher after he served 15 years for Alex’s murder. Gallagher “is paroled with the goals of reconnecting with his family and proving his innocence. In 2008, Dan first meets Alex and his world begins to unravel after their brief affair threatens to destroy the life he’s built with his wife, Beth”.^[35]
On April 8, 2023, some preview images for the series were released by Paramount+.^[36]
On April 18, 2023, it was stated that at this year's Cannes festival, anticipation was at boiling point with the audience – and celebrity guests on the pink carpet for the international premiere of Paramount+ new offering “Fatal Attraction,” shown at the fest out of competition. With many stating that they were waiting for the iconic rabbit scene.^[37]
On April 25, 2023 showrunner Alex Cunningham almost turned down being part of this reimagined IP.^[38]
On April 26, 2023, Lizzy and Joshua attended the LA premiere of the series.^[39]
On April 27, 2023, Peet & Jirrels said that given the twists seen in the finale, that the series gets a season 2.^[40]
On May 10, 2023 Lizzy Caplan mentioned that she can’t quite remember when she first saw 1987‘s Fatal Attraction, but she does recall that she wasn’t old enough to be watching it. “I definitely did not understand some of the more nuanced parts of it,”^[41]
On May 17, 2023 16-year-old Luke Willis talked about his first single "Vibe Wit Me" played in the series, but it was actually his parents who showed him, and they actually didn't tell him it was 'Fatal Attraction,'" Willis said. "They were like, 'Luke, you should see this scene of a show.' So I was a little confused, and I was watching it for a while. And I don't think it really set in yet. I couldn't really hear the song in the background.^[42]
- Also on this day, co-stars Jackson and Caplan talked about the necessary addition of shades of gray for their characters, examining the consequences of Dan’s actions, the extent of Alex’s manipulation, whether Jackson selected his character’s choice of karaoke song, and just how difficult it was to shoot the intense fight in episode five.^[43]