WandaVision's Matt Shakman to direct the pilot for Nicole Kidman's new legal drama

Now Shakman is getting back to his TV roots, as Deadline reports that he’ll serve as both an executive producer and a resident director on Paramount+’s Discretion, the new legal series that’ll act as the latest in a long series of collaborations between Nicole Kidman and Elle Fanning. (Shakman previously worked with Fanning back in 2020, when he directed the pilot episode of The Great, earning an Emmy nomination in the process.) Shakman (who’s done similar “Let’s kick things off right” work for shows like Monarch: Legacy Of Monsters and Welcome To Chippendales) will direct the pilot for the new series, based off of Chandler Baker’s short story, as well as three additional episodes. 

Baker’s story—as yet unpublished—is reportedly based on her time as a corporate attorney; the show centers on Fanning as a young lawyer who discovers a “web of NDAs masking a dark truth” that brings her into conflict with her mentor, a senior attorney played by Kidman. (For those keeping track at home, the pair worked together for the first time in 2017’s The Beguiled, before re-teaming for 2018’s How To Talk To Girls At Parties and then this year’s Margo’s Got Money Troubles. Like that ongoing series, Discretion is being produced by A24.)  Over in film, meanwhile, Shakman is still on the hook for an as-yet unnamed new installment in the Planet Of The Apes franchise.