''American Hostage'' is a scripted psychological thriller podcast directed by

Shawn Christensen Shawn Christensen is an American musician, filmmaker, podcaster and artist. He is a graduate of Pratt Institute, where he earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in illustration and graphic design. Christensen was the frontman of the indie rock band Ste ...

and starring

Jon Hamm Jonathan Daniel Hamm (born March 10, 1971) is an American actor. He is best known for his role as Don Draper in the period drama series '' Mad Men'' (2007–2015), for which he won numerous accolades, including a Primetime Emmy Award and tw ...

Joseph Perrino Joseph Perrino (born April 30, 1982) is an American actor. He is best known for his role in the drama film '' Sleepers'' in 1996. Life and career Joseph Perrino is an American film, television and stage actor, best known for his roles in the f ...

Carla Gugino Carla Gugino ( ; born August 29, 1971) is an American actress. After early roles in the films '' Troop Beverly Hills'' (1989), '' This Boy's Life'' (1993), '' Son in Law'' (1993), and '' Snake Eyes'' (1998), Gugino received wider recognition fo ...

, and

Dylan Baker Dylan Baker (born October 7, 1959) is an American actor. He gained recognition for his roles in films such as '' Planes, Trains and Automobiles'' (1987), ''Happiness'' (1998), '' Thirteen Days'' (2000), '' Road to Perdition'' (2002), ''Spider-Man ...

. It was produced by Criminal Content and released on February 22, 2022, by

Amazon Music Amazon Music (previously Amazon MP3) is a music streaming platform and digital music store operated by Amazon. As of January 2020, the service had 55 million subscribers. It was the first music store to sell music without digital rights manag ...

and

Wondery Wondery is an American podcast network and publisher of podcasts including ''American History Tellers'', ''Dr. Death (podcast), Dr. Death'' and ''The Shrink Next Door''. Wondery was founded in 2016 by entrepreneur and media executive Hernan Lopez ...

. On March 8, 2022, it debuted at #7 on

Apple Podcasts Apple Podcasts (known as simply Podcasts in Apple operating systems) is an audio streaming service and media player application developed by Apple Inc. for playing podcasts. Apple began supporting podcasts with iTunes 4.9 released in June 2005 ...

United States.

Background

It is a dramatization of the true incident of Tony Kiritsis, who took his mortgage broker hostage in 1977. The crisis took place over three days.

Television adaptation

On November 15, 2023, it was announced that ''American Hostage'' would be adapted into a television anthology series, with

Sony Pictures Television Sony Pictures Television Inc. (abbreviated as SPT) is an American television production company, production and broadcast syndication, distribution studio. Based at the Sony Pictures Studios complex in Culver City, California, it is a division o ...

served as studio,

Shawn Ryan Shawn Ryan (born October 11, 1966) is an American screenwriter and television producer. He has created and/or produced a number of television series including '' The Shield'' (2002–2008), '' The Unit'' (2006–2009), '' Lie to Me'' (2009– ...

as the showrunner and Hamm reprising his role as Fred Heckman. The series was greenlit by

MGM+ MGM+ (formerly known as Epix; pronounced ''epics'' and stylized as eᴘix), is an American Pay television, premium cable television, cable and satellite television, satellite television network owned by the MGMPlus Entertainment subsidiary of M ...

on April 23, 2025, with shooting scheduled for the following fall in

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Manitoba. It is centred on the confluence of the Red River of the North, Red and Assiniboine River, Assiniboine rivers. , Winnipeg h ...

Manitoba Manitoba is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

References

Crime podcasts American podcasts Scripted podcasts Audio podcasts History podcasts Historical fiction podcasts American radio dramas 2022 podcast debuts Thriller podcasts {{Podcasting-stub