Hours after the stunning developments of Thursday afternoon when, in the span of hour of and a half, Warner Bros. Discovery took Paramount’s “superior” offer and Netflix pulled out, Paramount+ held a previously planned premiere screening for Taylor Sheridan‘s new drama The Madison starring Michelle Pfeiffer.
Symbolically, given the events of the past 24 hours, the Friday premiere was held at a favorite event place of future corporate sibling HBO, the San Vicente Bungalows, where the WBD streamer holds its Emmy parties as well as premiere screenings, including the one for House of the Dragon.
The Madison screening was hosted by Paramount’s Direct to Consumer chair Cindy Holland who called the family drama an “unexpected, incisive and intimate” entry in the Taylor Sheridan universe. The series debuts the first three hours of its six-episode first season on March 14. As Deadline revealed, a six-episode second season is already in the can, with its release date TBD. Sheridan wrote every episode of both installments.
Production on Season 2 of The Madison was wrapping when Skydance’s acquisition of Paramount Global was completed, with Holland and her team, led by Head of Originals Jane Wiseman, taking over Paramount+.
While, as Holland said, “I cannot take credit for anything related to The Madison except my desire to support this series which I’m very proud of,” the show fits into the new regime strategy to expand into female-driven dramas to balance out Paramount+’s existing slate, including hit Taylor Sheridan series such as Landman and Tulsa King as well as the Star Trek franchise.
Two high-profile recent commissions, Discretion, starring Nicole Kidman and Elle Fanning, and Fear Not, headlined by Anne Hathaway, also both fall into the female-forward lane which involves stories and talent in front and behind the camera. In addition to a largely female cast led by Pfeiffer, The Madison has Christina Alexandra Voros as director, executive producer and cinematographer on all six episodes from Season 1.
Holland called Sheridan “a very talented artist and a joy to work with.” In addition to his slate of ongoing series, he has three upcoming ones, The Madison and Yellowstone spinoff The Dutton Ranch for Paramount+ as well as fellow Yellowstone offshoot Marshals for CBS, which will stream next day on Paramount+.
The prolific writer-producer remains based at Paramount until January 2029 when he moves to NBCUniversal. The news of his new deal made waves in October, putting a spotlight on his relationship with the post-merger Paramount Skydance leadership.
Sheridan has received several Paramount+ renewals since and recently committed to writing all eight episodes of Tulsa King spinoff Frisco King starring Samuel L. Jackson.
Under the new regime, Paramount+ is experimenting with release patterns beyond Paramount+’s traditional weekly episode debut or the binge model introduced by Netflix where Holland and Wiseman were key programming executives for many years.
For instance, The Madison‘s first season is being released in two weekly installments of three episodes each.
The series, which follows New York City’s the Clyburns to the Madison River valley of central Montana, is produced by Paramount Television Studios, David C. Glasser’s 101 Studios and Bosque Ranch Productions.
In addition to Sheridan, in her brief remarks, Holland acknowledged Glasser as well as “the incredible” Pfeiffer, who attended the screening.
She reminiscent about seeing Pfeiffer in Scarface and Grease 2 when she was young. “But when I saw your performance in Dangerous Liaisons in the theater, it was that day that I knew I wanted to support that kind of art, those kind of performances,” Holland added, addressing the Oscar-nominated actress.
The Madison also stars Kurt Russell, Beau Garrett, Elle Chapman, Patrick J. Adams, Amiah Miller, Alaina Pollack, Ben Schnetzer, Kevin Zegers, Rebecca Spence, Danielle Vasinova, Matthew Fox and Will Arnett.
Here is a trailer: