The Savant, which premieres September 26, “follows an undercover investigator known as ‘The Savant’ as she infiltrates online hate groups in an effort to stop domestic extremists before they act.” In the trailer, she’s lauded as the best of the best—but even she gets in over her head, putting her career and her family at risk. Chastain, who is also an executive producer, co-stars on the show with Nnamdi Asomugha, Cole Doman, Jordana Spiro, Trinity Lee Shirley, Toussaint Francois Battiste, and guest star Pablo Schreiber.
The new series is based on a Cosmopolitan magazine article published in 2019 about a real-life marine-turned-cop who specialized in monitoring and infiltrating extremists. In a recent profile from L’Officiel, Chastain said she was able to speak with the actual “Savant” but was careful not to recreate any specific details about her in the show in order to protect her identity. (Chastain did ask what music the woman likes to listen to, “Then, in hair and makeup, I would listen to her favorite song.”) The author of the article, Andrea Stanley, served as a consultant on the show, and the creative team also consulted with FBI and other law enforcement sources, “to just help make sure we were doing everything by the book as they would,” Chastain’s producing partner, Kelly Carmichael, explained to L’Officiel.
“I was really moved by this woman’s story,” Chastain told the outlet. “This idea that she spends most of her time having to read these incredibly sexist and racist and horrible comments of hate and she has to kind of slip into a character to navigate those waters, but she’s doing it all for the greater good—I found that really compelling.”
