HBO announces The Plot Against America mini-series from The Wire creator
Get ready for an alternate American history in HBO’s adaptation of The Plot Against America.
HBO announced on Thursday that it is picking up a new six-part series based on Philip Roth’s acclaimed 2004 novel, The Plot Against America. The series will be written and executive produced by David Simon and Ed Burns, according to Deadline. Simon’s current HBO series, The Deuce, will be finishing it’s run next year after three seasons.
Just so you know their pedigree, previous collaboration between to two brought about a little series called The Wire, for which both were writers and producers. They also collaborated on the 2008 mini-series Generation Kill.
Next up for the duo is this adaptation of Roth’s look at an alternate United States history. The Plot Against America imagines a scenario where a xenophobic aviator, Charles A. Lindbergh, defeats Franklin D. Roosevelt in the 1940 presidential election. This look at what happens when the United States is run by a Nazi sympathizer is told from the point of view of a New Jersey Jewish family.
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The New Yorker’s Richard Brody called the novel “a masterwork of counterfactual history.” But it’s the personal touches drawn in from Roth’s actual life that Brody says help demonstrate that “the shifts and pivots of the American nation at large are also those of each individual American.”
The new series is being backed by Annapurna Pictures (whose production credits include partnering on films such as Joy, Foxcatcher, American Hustle and Her) and producer Joe Roth. Nina Noble, Megan Ellison, Susan Goldberg, and Jeff Kirschenbaum are also signed on as producers. Philip Roth is listed as an executive producer for his novel’s adaptation as well.
Annapurna’s participation should come as no surprise since the head of their TV division (launched in 2016) is Sue Naegle, a former HBO executive.
Next. Mark Ruffalo’s limited series I Know This Much Is True acquired by HBO. dark
This past summer, Simon, struggling to find the right script to capture the current political climate, told Hollywood Reporter’s chief TV critic Tim Goodman, “If you do what we do, which is address politics, there has to be a way to address this. But to go right at it, it’s a moving target. As fast as you think you’ve surrounded what’s possible, it falls over into some new insanity.”
What do you think? Did Simon find the right script to address what’s going on in Washington? Let us know in the comments.