Jon Hamm kicks off a new crime anthology series in American Hostage trailer

The first season of the anthology takes aim at the same crime as Gus Van Sant's recent movie Dead Man's Wire.

By Drew Gillis  |  August 10, 2026 | 12:10pm
Image via MGM+
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Jon Hamm kicks off a new crime anthology series in American Hostage trailer

Can you even make an anthology series that doesn’t start with the adjective “American”? Well, of course you can, but it’s certainly a common one, between American Horror Story, American Crime Story, American Vandal, and American Crime. Coming next is American Hostage, in which Jon Hamm stars and executive produces. The first season, which will premiere on MGM+ next month and is based on the podcast of the same time, will focus on “Fred Heckman, a beloved Indianapolis radio reporter who 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,” according to a plot synopsis. 

If this premise sounds as familiar as the adjective “American,” there’s a decent reason for that. The crime was recently the subject of the film Dead Man’s Wire from director Gus Van Sant. That being said, the two projects look like they’ll take fairly different routes in covering the same episode. While Van Sant’s film foregrounded the experience of Kiritsis (played there by Bill Skarsgård), American Hostage seems much more interested in the story from the side of the media. 

After a premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, American Hostage will premiere on MGM+ on September 20. The series also stars Giovanni Ribisi, William Jackson Harper, and Mireille Enos. 

 
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