Editorial Staff
TV staples Christian Slater (“Mr Robot”, “Alias”) and Amanda Peet (“Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip”, “The Romanoffs”) will take over for Eric Bana and Connie Britton on the second season of USA Network’s “Dirty John”.
Titled “Dirty John : The Betty Broderick Story”, this second installment will be based on another epic true tale of love gone wrong — a story that spans the 1960s to the ’80s, through the breakdown of a marriage that Oprah deemed one of “America’s messiest divorces” even before it ended in double homicide.
Peet will play Betty Broderick, the perfect Southern California blonde wife and mother. Married to her handsome college boyfriend Dan, played by Slater, Betty charms everyone she meets. After years of sacrifice and suffering while supporting Dan through both medical and law school until he exploded into the San Diego legal community as a superstar, Betty is finally enjoying the fruits of their labors. That is, until Dan hires Linda, a bright, beautiful young woman without baggage with whom he can happily forget the struggles of his past. Betty’s attempts to fight back and enraged refusals to accept reality only serve to isolate and destabilize her until she loses her very identity. And Dan’s cold confidence blinds him to the bear he has created, and won’t stop poking … until it’s too late.
“The first season of Dirty John was a story of twisted love and coercive control – and both these insidious elements are also present in and integral to the story of Betty Broderick, whom I have wanted to write about since I became a writer,” said series creator Alexandra Cunningham. “I can’t wait to see Amanda and Christian bring it to life.”
