Paramount+‘s limited series JonBenét Ramsey (w/t), from MTV Entertainment Studios and 101 Studios, has tapped Emily Mitchell (The Apprentice) for its title role, also bringing aboard Garrett Hedlund (Tulsa King), Alison Pill (Trap) and Owen Teague (The Friend) for parts.
Mitchell’s JonBenét is a girl from an affluent family and child beauty queen, whose murder is at the heart of the story. Hedlund plays Detective Steve Thomas, a seasoned detective who is brought onto the JonBenét case, with Pill as Boulder, Colorado police detective Linda Arndt, who along with partner Detective Trujillo, is first on the scene after JonBenét Ramsey is reported missing/kidnapped. Teague plays Jeff Shapiro, a cocky, risk-taking reporter for the Globe tabloid.
As previously announced, Melissa McCarthy and Clive Owen lead the cast as JonBenét’s parents, Patsy and John. Others aboard include Shea Whigham, who plays District Attorney Alex Hunter, an acquaintance of the Ramsey family, and Will Patton as Lou Smith, a legend among law enforcement, who has worked over 150 homicide cases in Boulder Springs.
Exec produced by Oscar nom Richard LaGravenese (Behind the Candelabra), who serves as showrunner, JonBenét Ramsey explores the tragic unsolved murder of six-year-old beauty queen JonBenét Ramsey. The show follows the Ramsey family, before and after the tragedy, as they go through the painful loss of a child, while facing intense public scrutiny caused by a media frenzy that caused this case to captivate an entire nation. At the heart of the series is the story of Patsy and John Ramsey – exploring the unbreakable partnership of these two complex people – as husband and wife, as mother and father – who had committed themselves and their children to building the narrative of a perfect, privileged life, only to have it destroyed one Christmas night in 1996.
Harrison Query and Tommy Wallach sold the project to MTV Entertainment Studios and 101 Studios and serve as writers alongside LaGravenese. The trio exec produce alongside David C. Glasser, Ron Burkle, Bob Yari, David Hutkin, McCarthy, and Anne Sewitsky, who is directing four of the eight episodes, including the first, with production taking place in Calgary, Canada.
Soon to be seen playing Ivanka Trump in the hot-button Trump biopic The Apprentice, which has just stopped in at the Toronto Film Festival, young up-and-comer Mitchell previously portrayed a young Lisa Marie Presley in Sofia Coppola’s Priscilla and has also been seen in Lionsgate’s Ordinary Angels and Sarah Polley’s Oscar winner Women Talking. Previously appearing on the series What We Do in the Shadows and Ghosts, she’ll next be seen starring opposite Dakota Fanning in Paramount’s horror pic Vicious. Mitchell is repped by Ritter Talent Agency in Toronto.
Previously starring opposite Sylvester Stallone on Paramount+’s crime drama Tulsa King, Hedlund more recently appeared on the streamer’s show Lawmen: Bass Reeves. He starred opposite Daisy Ridley in Lionsgate and Roadside’s recent psychological thriller The Marsh King’s Daughter, based on the novel by Karen Dionne, and will next be seen starring opposite Brittany Snow and Stephen Lang in the thriller Barron’s Cove. He is repped by WME, Brillstein Entertainment Partners, and Sloane, Offer, Weber & Dern.
Most recently, Pill has been seen starring opposite Josh Hartnett in the psychological thriller Trap from M. Night Shyamalan. Recent TV credits include Star Trek: Picard, Them, and Devs. Next up, she’ll be seen starring opposite Douglas Booth in the indie Young Werther, a contemporary adaptation of Goethe’s 1774 novel of tragic romance, which is coming off its premiere at the Toronto Film Festival. She is represented by Burstein Company and CAA.
Teague toplined 20th Century Studios’ Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, which grossed over $397M worldwide, and has also recently been seen in films like Reptile, You Hurt My Feelings, Eileen, and To Leslie. Upcoming projects include the indies Griffin in Summer and The Friend, which respectively premiered at Tribeca and Telluride, HBO’s crime drama Task, and The Rivals of Amziah King, a crime thriller in which he stars opposite Matthew McConaughey. He is repped by CAA and Jackoway Austen Tyerman.
