Jon Hamm to star in anthology series American Hostage

Jon Hamm is adding another series to his busy television schedule: the MGM+ anthology series American Hostage. The Emmy winner will star in and executive produce American Hostage, a planned anthology series for MGM+. The series hails from Sony Pictures TV and creators Shawn Ryan (The Night Agent) and Eileen Myers (Big Love). The series is based on a podcast of the same name, the first season of which featured Hamm.



The eight-episode season, based on a true story, is set in Indianapolis in the 1970s. Hamm (pictured) plays Fred Heckman, a beloved radio reporter who finds himself in the middle of a life-threatening situation when a man named Tony Kiritsis takes a hostage and then demands airtime on Heckman's show.

“The combination of prolific producers Shawn Ryan and Eileen Myers, a singular talent like Jon Hamm, and our partners at Sony Pictures Television, is a match made in MGM+ heaven,” said Michael Wright, head of MGM+. “This is a fascinating story about real people engaged in a real-time life-or-death struggle to keep a desperate hostage situation from spinning out of control, and I can’t think of a more gifted actor on whom to center the story than Jon.”

Added Sony Pictures Television Studios president Katherine Pope, “We couldn’t be more grateful to be making this show with our valued partners — MGM+, Shawn Ryan, Eileen Myers and Jon Hamm. An exploration of quiet heroism, American Hostage shines a light on our culture, revealing truths that still strongly resonate.”

American Hostage will film in Canada this fall, adding to Hamm’s already packed schedule. The Mad Men actor can currently be seen in Your Friends and Neighbors on Apple TV+, which has been renewed for a second season on the streamer. He also starred in the first season of Landman on Paramount+ earlier this year; other recent television roles include FX’s Fargo and Apple TV+’s The Morning Show.