''The Plot Against America'' is an American

alternate history Alternate history (also alternative history, althist, AH) is a genre of speculative fiction of stories in which one or more historical events occur and are resolved differently than in real life. As conjecture based upon historical fact, alte ...

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has b ...

television miniseries created and written by

David Simon David Judah Simon (born February 9, 1960) is an American author, journalist, screenwriter, and producer best known for his work on '' The Wire'' (2002–08). He worked for '' The Baltimore Sun'' City Desk for twelve years (1982–95), wrote '' H ...

and Ed Burns, based on the 2004 novel of the same name by

Philip Roth Philip Milton Roth (March 19, 1933 – May 22, 2018) was an American novelist and short story writer. Roth's fiction—often set in his birthplace of Newark, New Jersey—is known for its intensely autobiographical character, for philosophicall ...

, that aired on HBO from March 16, 2020, to April 20, 2020.

Premise

''The Plot Against America'' imagines an alternate American history told through the eyes of a working-class Jewish family in

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the List of municipalities in New Jersey, most populous City (New Jersey), city in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the county seat, seat of Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County and the second largest city within the New Yo ...

, as they watch the political rise of

Charles Lindbergh Charles Augustus Lindbergh (February 4, 1902 – August 26, 1974) was an American aviator, military officer, author, inventor, and activist. On May 20–21, 1927, Lindbergh made the first nonstop flight from New York City to Paris, a distance o ...

, an aviator-hero and

xenophobic Xenophobia () is the fear or dislike of anything which is perceived as being foreign or strange. It is an expression of perceived conflict between an in-group and out-group and may manifest in suspicion by the one of the other's activities, a ...

populist Populism refers to a range of political stances that emphasize the idea of "the people" and often juxtapose this group against " the elite". It is frequently associated with anti-establishment and anti-political sentiment. The term develop ...

, who becomes president and turns the nation toward

fascism Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, ultra-nationalist political ideology and movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and political and cultural liberalism, a belief in natural social hierarchy and t ...

Production

HBO announced on November 8, 2018, that it had ordered a six-episode miniseries based on

's novel '' The Plot Against America'' to be written by

and Ed Burns and executive produced by Simon, Burns, and Roth, alongside Joe Roth, Jeffrey Kirschenbaum, Nina Noble,

Megan Ellison Margaret Elizabeth Ellison (born January 31, 1986) is an American film producer and entrepreneur. She is the founder of Annapurna Pictures, established in 2011. She produced the films ''Zero Dark Thirty'' (2012), '' Her'' (2013), ''American Hust ...

, Sue Naegle, Susan Goldberg, and Dennis Stratton. Production companies involved with the series include

Annapurna Pictures Annapurna Pictures is an independent American media company founded by Megan Ellison in 2011, that specializes in film production, live theatre production, television through its Annapurna Television division, and video game publishing through i ...

and Blown Deadline Productions. In April 2019,

Winona Ryder Winona Laura Horowitz (born October 29, 1971), professionally known as Winona Ryder, is an American actress. Originally playing quirky roles, she rose to prominence for her more diverse performances in various genres in the 1990s. She has recei ...

, Zoe Kazan,

Morgan Spector Morgan Michael Spector (born October 4, 1980) is an American actor. Spector has appeared in the TV series ''Allegiance'' (2015), '' The Mist'' (2017), ''Homeland'' (2018), and '' Pearson'' (2019), as well as the films '' The Drop'' (2014), '' Chr ...

John Turturro John Michael Turturro (; born February 28, 1957) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is known for his contributions to the independent film movement. He has appeared in over sixty feature films and has worked frequently with the Coen brothers, ...

, Anthony Boyle, Azhy Robertson, and Caleb Malis joined the cast of the series. "The Road is Open Again", written in 1933 for Franklin D. Roosevelt's

National Recovery Administration The National Recovery Administration (NRA) was a prime agency established by U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) in 1933. The goal of the administration was to eliminate " cut throat competition" by bringing industry, labor, and governm ...

, was used for the opening theme song, performed by actor

Michael Kostroff Michael Kostroff (born May 22, 1961) is an American actor. He appeared on the HBO program '' The Wire'' as defense attorney Maurice Levy. Kostroff starred in the fifth season of the series and appeared in all four earlier seasons as a guest star ...

. Simon had read the novel in 2004, but thought it politically irrelevant; though approached by Tom Rothman in 2013 to adapt it for television, he declined. He decided to take on the project in the aftermath of the 2016 US election, in which

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of P ...

was elected

US President The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States ...

, saying that Roth's novel had proven "perversely...allegorical," and approaching his longtime collaborator Ed Burns, with whom he had worked on ''

The Wire ''The Wire'' is an American crime drama television series created and primarily written by author and former police reporter David Simon. The series was broadcast by the cable network HBO in the United States. ''The Wire'' premiered on June 2 ...

'' and '' Generation Kill'', to co-write. Events such as the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville influenced the adaptation. A point of concern was the show's ending, about which Simon approached Roth, and to which Roth provided no solution. Simon and Burns chose a more ambiguous conclusion than the novel's, though one more directly involving characters in ending the Lindbergh administration, and expanded the perspective beyond just the novel's narrator, Philip. Roth himself expressed potential concerns, suggesting that the family name be changed to Weiss (Simon chose Levin), that the family be assimilated Americans, and for the production team to not "confuse" Lindbergh for Trump.

Filming

Filming took place in 2019 at a number of locations, including: *

Jersey City Jersey City is the second-most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, after Newark.Temple Beth-El and in the Greenville shopping district in May *

Downtown Paterson Downtown Paterson is the main commercial district of Paterson, Passaic County, New Jersey, United States. The area is the oldest part of the city, along the banks of the Passaic River and its Great Falls. It is roughly bounded by Interstate 80 ...

in May * Newark in June *

Cranford, New Jersey Cranford is a township in Union County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, located southwest of Manhattan. As of the 2020 United States census, the township's population was 23,847, an increase of 1,222 (+5.4%) from the 2010 census count ...

on August 29–30 * New York City in May and June *

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic, and the 30th most populous city in the United States with a population of 585,708 in 2020. Baltimore was ...

, on June 13–14, including on the deck of the SS ''John W. Brown'', a WWII

Liberty ship Liberty ships were a class of cargo ship built in the United States during World War II under the Emergency Shipbuilding Program. Though British in concept, the design was adopted by the United States for its simple, low-cost construction. Ma ...

docked at the Canton Dock * Washington, D.C. on June 14–16

Cast and characters

Main

as Herman Levin, an insurance agent with a promising career, and an opinionated New Deal socialist * Zoe Kazan as Elizabeth "Bess" Levin, Herman's wife and stay-at-home mother *

as Evelyn Finkel, Bess's older, unmarried, independently minded sister *

as Rabbi Lionel Bengelsdorf, a charismatic leader and supporter of Charles Lindbergh, and Evelyn's lover * Anthony Boyle as Alvin Levin, Herman's orphaned, young-adult nephew, who lives with him *

as Shepsie Tirchwell, Herman's friend, who manages a newsreel theater and discusses politics with Herman *

David Krumholtz David Krumholtz (born May 15, 1978) is an American actor and comedian. He played Mr. Universe in '' Serenity'', Charlie Eppes in the CBS drama series ''Numb3rs'', and starred in the '' Harold & Kumar'' and ''The Santa Clause'' film franchises. ...

as Monty Levin, Herman's older brother, a successful grocery supplier * Azhy Robertson as Philip Levin, the Levins' 10-year-old son * Caleb Malis as Sanford "Sandy" Levin, their rebellious teenaged son, who is a talented artist * Jacob Laval as Seldon Wishnow, a shy and awkward boy who lives in the downstairs section of the house, who is eventually fostered by the Levins

Recurring

* Ben Cole as

Brigadier General Brigadier general or Brigade general is a military rank used in many countries. It is the lowest ranking general officer in some countries. The rank is usually above a colonel, and below a major general or divisional general. When appointe ...

, a fictionalized portrayal of Lindbergh, as a xenophobic populist who runs for

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

on a ticket of opposition to US involvement in the war * Caroline Kaplan as

Anne Morrow Lindbergh Anne Spencer Morrow Lindbergh (June 22, 1906 – February 7, 2001) was an American writer and aviator. She was the wife of decorated pioneer aviator Charles Lindbergh, with whom she made many exploratory flights. Raised in Englewood, New Jerse ...

* Billy Carter as

Walter Winchell Walter Winchell (April 7, 1897 – February 20, 1972) was a syndicated American newspaper gossip columnist and radio news commentator. Originally a vaudeville performer, Winchell began his newspaper career as a Broadway reporter, critic and ...

* Ed Moran as

Henry Ford Henry Ford (July 30, 1863 – April 7, 1947) was an American industrialist, business magnate, founder of the Ford Motor Company, and chief developer of the assembly line technique of mass production. By creating the first automobile that ...

* Daniel O'Shea as Burton K. Wheeler * Orest Ludwig as

Joachim von Ribbentrop Ulrich Friedrich Wilhelm Joachim von Ribbentrop (; 30 April 1893 – 16 October 1946) was a German politician and diplomat who served as Minister of Foreign Affairs of Nazi Germany from 1938 to 1945. Ribbentrop first came to Adolf Hitler's not ...

* Kristen Sieh as Selma Wishnow *

Lee Tergesen Lee Allen Tergesen (; born July 8, 1965) is an American actor. He is known for his roles in '' Weird Science'', as Tobias Beecher in HBO's prison drama '' Oz'', and as Evan Wright in '' Generation Kill,'' as well as guest starring in many othe ...

as Agent Don McCorkle * Graydon Yosowitz as Earl Axman, Philip's delinquent school friend * Steven Maier as Shushy Margulis * Zach McNally as Billy Murphy

Episodes

Broadcasting and streaming

In New Zealand, the series is distributed by

Neon Neon is a chemical element with the symbol Ne and atomic number 10. It is a noble gas. Neon is a colorless, odorless, inert monatomic gas under standard conditions, with about two-thirds the density of air. It was discovered (along with krypt ...

streaming service and SkyGo, which are owned by satellite television company Sky Network.

Reception

The miniseries has received critical acclaim. On

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...

, it has an approval rating of 87% with an average rating of 8.2/10, based on 76 reviews. The website's critical consensus reads, "A cautionary tale that hits close to home, ''The Plot Against America''s handsomely realized revisionist history is disturbingly relevant, making it difficult, but essential viewing." On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, it has a weighted average score of 82 out of 100, based on 37 critics, indicating "universal acclaim". Meghan O'Keefe of '' Decider'' wrote that it "is a bleak watch, but full of spectacular performances and masterful craftsmanship." Darren Franich of ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular ...

'' stated that "Simon and Burns craft their story with remarkable texture" and that "the final hour is one of the most breathtakingly tense episodes of television I've ever seen, carrying you on a dark journey through a country on fire."

James Poniewozik James "Jim" Poniewozik (; born July 12, 1968) is an American journalist and television critic. He is the chief TV critic for ''The New York Times''. Earlier in his career, he wrote ''Time'' magazine's ''Tuned In'' column for 16 years. Early life ...

wrote in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' that the show was "more than a thought exercise in 'Here’s what might have happened then, and thank God it didn’t.' Instead, it’s: 'Here’s what could happen at any time. Here’s what ''does'' happen, all the time. Why should we think we’re so special?'," adding that the novel was "too feel-good" in comparison.

Accolades

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Plot Against America (miniseries), The 2020s American drama television miniseries 2020 American television series debuts 2020 American television series endings English-language television shows HBO original programming Television shows filmed in New Jersey Television shows set in New Jersey Television shows based on American novels Culture of Newark, New Jersey Television series about World War II alternate histories Television series set in the 1940s Cultural depictions of Charles Lindbergh Anti-fascist works Television series about Nazism Fascism in the United States Newark, New Jersey in fiction