It’s been a while since we’ve been hooked by a creepy, gritty true crime TV series. But a new seven-part programme from FX — starring the internet’s dorky boyfriend, Andrew Garfield, and Daisy Edgar-Jones of Normal People fame — looks set to change that. A new teaser trailer suggests it will be suitably chilling.
Created and written by Dustin Lance Black, who won an Oscar for his script work on the acclaimed queer biopic Milk in 2008, Under the Banner of Heaven is based on the 2003 non-fiction book of the same name by Jon Krakauer. It investigates the origins and rise of The Church of Latter Day Saints, and a murder of a mormon woman and her child in 1984 that was inextricably linked to the church. The series will specifically follow a detective, played by Andrew Garfield, and how his own faith will be put to the test as he unravels the religious extremism, polygamy and resentment at the heart of the case, one that has rocked the usually safe and holy town.
Alongside Andrew and Daisy, who plays Brenda Lafferty — the woman murdered alongside her young child in mysterious circumstances — other cast members include Sam Worthington (Avatar), Wyatt Russell (22 Jump Street), Rory Culkin (Scream 4), Chloe Pirrie (Black Mirror), Denise Gough and Billy Howle as other members of the Lafferty clan. Gil Birmingham, who played Jacob Black’s father in Twilight, will also star.
Andrew Garfield also took on a producer role for the series directed by David Mackenzie (who we can thank for the Chris Pine nude scene in Netflix’s Outlaw King) and Filipina filmmaker Isabel Sandoval, known for her film Lingua Franca, as well as her work with Miu Miu.
With two strong leads and the renowned filmmakers at its helm, we have high hopes for Under the Banner of Heaven, which will be available to stream in the US on Hulu from 28 April 2022. It will also air on Disney+ internationally, though an exact release date for the platform is yet to be announced.