Annaleigh Ashford has a less than heartwarming reunion with dad in new Happy Face trailer

Of course, there’s another reason the fictional Melissa would share her story publicly: that’s what the real-life Melissa Moore did in her Happy Face podcast and her autobiography Shattered Silence. Inspired by Moore’s experiences, the new show “follows Melissa (Ashford) and her incarcerated father, known as the Happy Face Killer (Quaid). After decades of no contact, he finally finds a way to force himself back into his daughter’s life,” per the Paramount+ synopsis. “In a race against the clock, Melissa must find out if an innocent man is going to be put to death for a crime her father committed. Throughout, she discovers the impact her father had on his victims’ families and must face a reckoning of her own identity.”

In the Happy Face trailer, Melissa has hidden her past and completely disavowed her dad. But “He wasn’t always a monster, he became one. Before that he was just… my dad,” she says. The action toggles between their past and the present as her dad tries to re-forge a relationship with Melissa through manipulative and extremely consequential means. “If I don’t deal with him, there is a family who lost a daughter who will never get answers,” she frets. Melissa will pursue her answers and Quaid will continue his creepy streak when the series premieres March 20 on Paramount+.