Fatal Attraction: Dee Wallace, David Meunier join Paramount+ streaming series

The last time we heard a casting announcement for the upcoming Paramount Plus series based on the 1987 thriller Fatal Attraction (watch it HERE), we learned that Jessica Harper, star of the horror classic Suspiria, had landed a role in the show. Now Deadline has revealed the names of two more cast members, and one of them is genre icon Dee Wallace! Wallace’s horror credits include Critters, Cujo, and The Howling, among many others. The second new cast member is David Meunier of Justified.

This version of Fatal Attraction sees Joshua Jackson (Dawson’s Creek), Lizzy Caplan (Castle Rock), and Amanda Peet (Dirty John: The Betty Broderick Story) playing the characters Dan, Alex, and Beth, respectively. They were played by Michael Douglas, Glenn Close, and Anne Archer in the film.

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.

Also in the cast of Fatal Attraction are 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), and newcomer Isabella Briggs

Jirrels will be playing 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.” And 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.

What do you think of the cast of Fatal Attraction so far? Will you be watching this show? Let us know by leaving a comment below.