Viola Davis takes on the role of Michelle Obama in the official trailer for Showtime’s upcoming anthology drama “The First Lady.”
The trailer, which dropped Thursday morning, features glimpses of the Obamas in the White House (O-T Fagbenle is playing President Barack Obama) as Michelle navigates public life and mounting political pressures.
It also shows Michelle Pfeiffer unravelling as Betty Ford, the First Lady who went on to co-found the Betty Ford Center, a substance abuse treatment organization. Aaron Eckhart plays her husband, President Gerald Ford.
Gillian Anderson takes on Eleanor Roosevelt as she strives for agency as the First Lady married to President Franklin D. Roosevelt (Kiefer Sutherland).
Here’s a logline for the series: “The First Lady” is a “reframing of American leadership, told through the lens of the women at the heart of the White House. In the government’s East Wing, many of history’s most impactful and world-changing decisions have been hidden from view, made by America’s charismatic, complex and dynamic First Ladies. The series will peel back the curtain on the personal and political lives of three unique, enigmatic women and their families, tracing their journeys to Washington, dipping into their pasts and following them beyond the White House into their greatest moments. Through interweaving storylines so intimate it’s as if the White House walls are talking, Season 1 focuses on the enlightening lives of Michelle Obama, Betty Ford and Eleanor Roosevelt.”
More stars of the series include Dakota Fanning as Susan Elizabeth Ford, Regina Taylor as Michelle Robinson Obama’s mother Marian Shields Robinson, Lily Rabe as Lorena “Hick” Hickok and Jayme Lawson as a young Michelle Obama. Additional guest stars in “The First Lady” include Judy Greer as Nancy Howe, Ellen Burstyn as Sara Delano Roosevelt, Jackie Earle Haley as Louis McHenry Howe, Maria Dizzia as Lucy Mercer Rutherfurd and Kate Mulgrew as Susan Sher.
Aaron Cooley created the series, and it is executive produced by Cathy Schulman (“Crash”), who is also the showrunner. Susanne Bier (“The Undoing”) is also an executive producer and is the director of all of Season 1.
Schulman, via her Welle Entertainment, executive produces the series along with Bier, JuVee Productions’ Davis, Julius Tennon and Andrew Wang, Aaron Cooley, Pavlina Hatoupis, Alyson Feltes, Jeff Gaspin via Gaspin Media and Brad Kaplan via Link Entertainment.
“The First Lady” is produced for the premium cable channel by Lionsgate Television.
“The First Lady,” which will consist of 10 episodes in its first season, will premiere Sunday, April 17 at 9 p.m. ET/PT on Showtime