ABC News Studios and Wall to Wall Media are teaming up to produce an in-depth, multipart Hulu Original docuseries that explores the hack of Ashley Madison, an infidelity dating website for married people that caused shockwaves with one of the most damaging and scandalous data breaches of all time, TheWrap has exclusively learned.
The series, which currently has the working title “The Ashley Madison Affair,” is targeting a release in late Spring 2023.
Featuring exclusive footage and untold firsthand interviews from those involved, the series will explore infidelity, morality, cyber-shaming and blackmail and tell the story of ordinary people with big secrets and a mystery that remains unsolved to this day.
Ashley Madison is a popular website, with millions of would-be adulterers signed up around the world.
One July morning in 2015, as employees at the Toronto headquarters logged on to their computers, a message flashed up: “Shut down Ashley Madison immediately (or) we will release all customer records, profiles, sexual fantasies … real names and addresses.”
As Ashley Madison’s owners were set to launch the company in a billion-dollar IPO, they refused to comply with the demands of the hackers, known as the “Impact Team.” Thirty days later, the Impact Team made good on their threats and released almost 10 gigabytes of user details onto the dark web with disastrous consequences for people who had signed up to the site, ranging from suicide to blackmail to public shaming.
The series is executive produced by Beth Hoppe for ABC News Studios and Jeremy Dear and Fred Hepburn from Wall to Wall Media. Shaun Trevisick and Carla Francome from Wall to Wall media will serve as producers and Johanna Hamilton will direct.
ABC News Studios is a premium, narrative non-fiction original production house and commissioning partner of series and specials focusing on untold and authentic stories driving the cultural zeitgeist spanning true-crime, investigations, pop culture, and news-adjacent stories. Its subsidiary, ABC News Films, acquires and produces feature documentary films.
In addition to “The Ashley Madison Affair,” ABC News Studios’ docuseries include “Death in the Dorms,” which premiered on Jan. 5 and follows the tragic stories of six college students whose lives were cut short by violence crime. Two other true crime docuseries, “Web of Death” and “Killing County,” will premiere on Jan. 19 and 26, respectively. “Web of Death” is produced in association with Blink Films, while “Killing County” is produced in association with Kaepernick Media.
Wall to Wall Media is part of the Warner Bros. International Television Production group. The company’s work includes the acclaimed genealogy series, BBC and NBC’s “Who Do You Think You Are?,” BBC and Netflix’s “Glow Up,” AppleTV+’s “Becoming You,” and National Geographic’s “Narcowars.”
