I’m liking the Hamm surge that is giving us Jon Hamm as a bad guy in both “The Morning Show” and season 5 of “Fargo” one after the other. In the former, which wrapped up season three last week, he was a self-serving Elon Musk type. In the latter, which premieres on Tuesday, he is a violent and amoral sheriff. Now comes news that he is going to star in a TV series based on the podcast “American Hostage,” written and produced by Shawn Ryan (“The Shield,” “The Night Agent”). The thriller is based on the true story of Fred Heckman, an Indianapolis radio reporter who, as the podcast websites put it, “is thrust into the middle of a life-or-death crisis when hostage-taker, Tony Kiritsis, demands to be interviewed on his popular radio news program.” The newsman becomes the news.
Hamm was the voice of Heckman in the podcast, which also features the voices of Carla Gugino, Dylan Baker, and Joe Perrino, and he will play Heckman in the series. No one else has been cast yet. Which streaming service will buy this one? I’m thinking that, post-strike, it might well be a competitive situation. Ryan is describing “American Hostage” as an anthology series that will portray a different hostage case every season.
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Matthew Gilbert can be reached at matthew.gilbert@globe.com. Follow him @MatthewGilbert.