A&E isn’t the only network going behind bars. HBO is developing a death row drama with Laura Dern and Alex Gibney, Deadline reports.
Gibney directed the 2015 HBO documentary Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief.
The prison drama will follow Dern’s character, “a court-appointed psychiatrist who must determine from her twisted yet humanizing diagnostic exchanges with death row inmates if they are sane enough to be killed by the state.” As of now, the project is untitled. Dern is executive producing the series alongside Gibney.
The series marks the documentary filmmaker’s first foray into scripted narrative.
From Gibney, in a press statement:
I am thrilled to be embarking on this dramatic journey with Laura and Jayme. It’s an opportunity to shine a light on a dark and brutal corner of our justice system with a series of illuminating conversations that explore the best and worst of what it means to be human.”
This will be Dern’s third project with HBO. She previously starred in Enlightened, which was cancelled in 2013.
What do you think? Would you watch the new series? Are you a fan of Laura Dern and/or Alex Gibney?
I believe issues around the death penalty are very complex. First of all, it is wrong for so many reasons. Recently Brandon Astor Jones from Georgia was executed. He had dementia and multiple medical issues which made it so cruel and inhumane to execute someone. The series has the potential to be illuminating or very destructive to current men and women on death row, and it is important to remember that there are hundreds of innocent men and women on death row right now who have remained there for decades. A series documenting that would make a bigger impact on… Read more »