Tessa Thompson to star in new Netflix thriller
No stranger to the small screen, Tessa Thompson will be taking her talents back to episodic storytelling after signing on to play the lead roles and executive produce His & Hers for Netflix.
While the actor’s movie career continues to thrive thanks to her roles in Justin Simien’s Dear White People, Ava DuVernay’s Selma, Alex Garland’s Annihilation, the ongoing Creed franchise and her recurring role as the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Valkyrie, she’s maintained a regular presence on TV.
Her initial breakthrough came as part of the Veronica Mars cast, and she’s followed that up with multi-episode arcs in shows including Grey’s Anatomy, Heroes, Copper, and Westworld. Taking top billing and being part of the produxing team is the next logical progression, and His & Hers has plenty of talent attached on the other side of the camera.
Adapted from the novel of the same name penned by Alice Feeney, the six-episode drama will relocate the action from the United Kingdom to Atlants, with Fellow Travellers producer Dee Johnson serving as showrunner, executive producer, and writer.
Ozark scribe Bill Dubuque is also part of the writers’ room alongside Lady Macbeth alumni William Goldroyd, who’ll also direct the pilot episode. Jessica Chastain’s Freckle Films are among the backers, with the Academy Award winner’s company snapping up the rights shortly after the source novel hit shelves in 2020.
Thompson stars as Anna, a struggling journalist living in isolation who overhears talk about a murder in the small Georgia town where she grew up, revitalising her creative energies and sending her back to the place she grew up in search of answers. However, there’s a detective growing increasingly suspicious of her involvement, which thrusts her into the middle of the ongoing investigation.
“I am beyond elated to be collaborating with a filmmaker I have long admired and an incredible team to make a fresh offering in a genre that I can never get enough of,” Thompson told Netflix. “From the second I heard what Will was imagining doing with Alice Feeney’s brilliant book, to the moment I visited the town where our story is set, I was hooked.”
There’s no word as of yet on a start date for production never mind a release window, but with Netflix subscribers having shown themselves constantly open to exploring new shows that deal in murder, mystery, duplicity, and deceit, the smart money is on His & Hers becoming an instant hit on the platform whenever it arrives.