Fatal Attraction TV series: Lizzy Caplan, Joshua Jackson featured in first look image

The Paramount Plus series based on the 1987 thriller Fatal Attraction (watch it HERE) is expected to start streaming sometime in early 2023, and the folks at Entertainment Weekly have gotten their hands on a first look image from the series that shows the characters of Alex and Dan – played by Lizzy Caplan (Castle Rock) and Joshua Jackson (Dawson’s Creek) – talking to each other. These characters were played by Glenn Close and Michael Douglas in the film. You look the image over at the bottom of this article.

Directed by Adrian Lyne from a screenplay by James Dearden (based on Dearden’s short film Diversion), the ’87 Fatal Attraction had the following synopsis:

For Dan Gallagher, life is good. He is on the rise at his New York law firm, is happily married to his wife, Beth, and has a loving daughter. But, after a casual fling with a sultry book editor named Alex, everything changes. Jilted by Dan, Alex becomes unstable, her behavior escalating from aggressive pursuit to obsessive stalking. Dan realizes that his main problem is not hiding his affair, but rather saving himself and his family.

Written by Alexandra Cunningham from a story she co-wrote with Kevin J. Hynes, the series aims to

explore the timeless themes of marriage and infidelity through the lens of modern attitudes towards strong women, personality disorders and coercive control.

Speaking with Entertainment Weekly, Cunningham said, “I did a lot of reading about the film and Glenn Close talking about the empathy she had for Alex, and how she felt that Alex was out of control and obviously not evil, which I definitely agree with because I don’t believe in evil. Glenn talked about how, when she was doing the character work on Alex, she brought the script to two different psychiatrists, and neither one of them brought up mental illness, because it was the ’80s and nobody did that. She’s become such a mental health advocate since then, and it makes me sad that she’s said that she feels responsible for a lot of the stigma toward mental illness in pop culture because of her portrayal of Alex. She’s also said that she felt that it would be interesting to literally tell the exact same story, but from Alex’s point of view, and I kind of sparked to that.“

Caplan added, “In the film, Alex is the villain of the story, and Dan is the hero and there is no gray area. Now, audiences have changed so much, we are no longer primed to believe in this villainous woman story. She’s clearly mentally ill and that’s not something that is really touched upon at all in the movie. There’s a lot to unpack with her. She has a full backstory and a full point of view in our show. With a limited series, there’s an opportunity to take more time getting to know all of these characters.“

Caplan and Jackson are joined in the cast by Amanda Peet (Dirty John: The Betty Broderick Story), Alyssa Jirrels (As We See It), Toby Huss (Halloween 2018), Reno Wilson (Good Girls), Brian Goodman (Rizzoli & Isles), Wanda De Jesus (Sons of Anarchy), John Getz (Blood Simple), Toks Olagundoye (Veep), David Sullivan (The Wilds), newcomer Isabella Briggs, Dee Wallace (Critters), and David Meunier (Justified).

Peet plays Dan’s wife Beth, who was played by Anne Archer in the film. Jirrels plays Ellen Gallagher, “Dan (Jackson) and Beth’s (Peet) daughter.” This character was only around 6 years old in the movie, while Jirrels is about to turn 22. Huss is playing Mike Gerard, “the DA’s chief of investigations, whose friendship and loyalty to deputy DA Dan Gallagher goes back many years.” Wilson’s character is Detective Earl Booker, “a long-standing member of the Los Angeles Police Department with a large personality and an inability to self-edit.” Goodman is playing Arthur Tomlinson, “warm and kind, Arthur is Beth Gallagher’s best friend and business partner.” De Jesus’s Marcella is “Dan’s boss, who has to at times be the bearer of bad news.” Dan’s boss in the movie was Arthur, played by Fred Gwynne. Harper is playing Sophie, “Beth’s mother a dryly witty New England transplant who loves her daughter and granddaughter and also a cocktail.” Getz is taking on the role of Warren, Beth’s father, “who retired from the financial sector and does not suffer fools lightly. He puts up with Dan for Beth’s sake but isn’t impressed by Dan’s career or his ability to provide for his family.” Beth’s parents were Joan (Meg Mundy) and Howard (Tom Brennan) Rogerson in the movie. Olagundoye’s Fatal Attraction character is Conchita Lewis, the head of the Victims Services Bureau and a longtime colleague and friend of Dan as well as Alex’s boss. Sullivan will be playing 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. “Cheerfully energetic with a warm vibe, she is welcoming and confident and disarming when she wants to be friends.” Wallace’s character is Emma Rauch, “open, friendly, chic, and interested but also sensitive to boundaries. She is a retired career woman, enthusiastic and helpful volunteer, mother of adult children, and a student of life— someone anyone but Alex (Lizzy Caplan) would be thrilled to have as their neighbor.” Meunier is playing Richard Macksey, “a psychology professor at the university and Ellen’s (Alyssa Jirrels) thesis advisor, mentor, and friend, whose personal interest in the work and life of Carl Jung ignites Ellen’s own interest.”

Coming to us from Paramount Television Studios and Amblin Television, Fatal Attraction is being executive produced by Cunningham, Hynes, and Amblin Television presidents Darryl Frank and Justin Falvey. Cunningham serves as showrunner.

Will you be watching the Fatal Attraction TV series on Paramount Plus? Let us know by leaving a comment below. Here’s the first image: