Apple TV+ orders Fifth Season, Anonymous drama series led by Jessica Chastain

Apple TV+ has commissioned a limited drama from Jessica Chastain’s Freckle Films and US studios Fifth Season and Anonymous Content.

Jessica Chastain (photo: Giampaolo Sgura)

The Savant is inspired by a true story published in Cosmopolitan magazine about a female investigator who tracks down dangerous men online. The drama is being written by Melissa James Gibson, who has an overall deal with Fifth Season. Gibson, whose credits include Anatomy of a Scandal and House of Cards, will also serve as showrunner.

US actress Chastain (The Eyes of Tammy Faye, The Good Nurse, George & Tammy) will star in and executive produce the eight-part project, with the precise storyline and character details being kept under wraps.

Also exec producing are director Matthew Heineman (A Private War, Retrograde), Gibson, Freckle Films’ Kelly Carmichael and Cosmopolitan editor-in-chief Jessica Giles. Brian Madden, senior VP of development at Hearst Magazines is a producer, while Andrea Stanley, who wrote the original Cosmopolitan article, is a consultant on the project.

CJ ENM-owned Fifth Season is behind projects including Severance and Chief of War for Apple TV+, while Anonymous Content’s projects for the SVoD service include The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey, Dickinson and upcoming fantasy adventure series Time Bandits.

Anonymous, which is on a CEO hunt after the sudden exit of Dawn Olmstead earlier this month, and Fifth Season also have a joint venture focused on developing and producing scripted TV series.