Amazon commissions ‘darkly comedic workplace thriller’ led by Christoph Waltz

Amazon Prime Video has commissioned a thriller series toplined by two-time Academy Award-winner Christoph Waltz.

Christoph Waltz (photo: Tsui via CC)

Produced by MGM Television and Amazon Studios, The Consultant comes from creator, showrunner and executive producer Tony Basgallop, who also created Servant for Apple TV+ and Inside Men and Hotel Babylon for BBC.

Matt Shakman (WandaVision) has been tapped to direct. He is also executive producing alongside Waltz, Steve Stark and Andrew Mittman.

Inspired by Bentley Little’s 2015 novel of the same name, the series is described as a “darkly comedic workplace thriller that explores the sinister relationship between boss and employee, asking how far we will go to get ahead, and to survive.”

The greenlight comes as US tech giant Amazon is in the process of closing its deal to acquire MGM for around US$8.45bn. The deal is still pending regulatory approval.

“It’s a huge honour to be working with the talents of Matt Shakman and Christoph Waltz on this project that I developed with the team at 1.21 and Toluca Pictures,” said Basgallop in a statement.

“With The Consultant, Tony Basgallop has created something fearless with equal parts savage humour and delicious thrills,” added Vernon Sanders, head of television at Amazon Studios.