Movie star Hilary Swank is taking a break from the silver screen to appear on the small screen in the not-too-distant future. The Academy Award-winning actress has signed on to join the cast of a brand new cable series that actually sounds pretty fantastic. Swank is slated to appear in the FX series Trust, which will also star Donald Sutherland.
Trust will be a limited series event telling the story of the kidnapping of John Paul Getty III, who was the heir to a vast oil fortune. Paul was kidnapped in Rome in 1973 by a group of mobsters looking to score a big ransom from his wealthy family members. Unfortunately for the mobsters (and Paul), the reactions to the kidnapping were not what what they were hoping for.
The Italian authorities assume that the entire situation is a prank and not worth investigating. His father is too busy feeding his heroin addiction to respond to reports of his son's kidnapping. His fabulously wealthy grandfather is tucked away in the English countryside with a handful of mistresses and a pet lion. Paul's only hope is his mother, who must try to negotiate with the kidnappers despite not having any fortune of her own.
Hilary Swank will play Paul's mother, Gail Getty. She'll use her determination and resourcefulness to do anything and everything she can to bring her son home, no matter how little help she gets from the rest off the family. Donald Sutherland is on board to play the eldest John Paul Getty. The entire project is being produced by a trio of Academy Award-winning producers, comprised of Danny Boyle, Simon Beaufoy, and Christian Colson.
The first installment of Trust will run for 10 episodes on FX. Production is scheduled to begin in London and Rome this June, with the premiere date listed as January 2018. The story of John Paul Getty III and his family is currently being billed as a limited series, but FX in a press release refers to it as "the first installment," which indicates that it could become another anthology series, a la American Crime Story and American Horror Story.
Trust should be a brand new kind of experience for Hilary Swank. While she has credits on plenty of projects over the years, all of her biggest gigs have been in films. In fact, her most high profile TV job prior to Trust was probably her role in Season 8 of Beverly Hills, 90210 back in the late 1990s. It will be interesting to see how she performs in a 10-episode season as opposed to a two-hour or so movie.
We have a while to wait before Hilary Swank makes her debut as Gail Getty on Trust, so be sure to check out our midseason TV premiere guide and our summer TV premiere schedule to discover all your viewing options now and in the coming weeks. Be sure to drop by our rundowns for cable/streaming and broadcast TV renewals and cancellations as well.
