We already knew there’d be no shortage of true crime TV in 2019, and now, Hulu’s The Act just debuted its first teaser.
The new show is an anthology series that, according to Hulu, “tells startling, stranger-than-fiction true crime stories.” The first season focuses on the murder of Dee Dee Blanchard (played by Patricia Arquette), which was brought to public light by HBO’s documentary Mommy Dead and Dearest.
ICYMI, the HBO documentary explored the relationship between Dee Dee and her daughter Gypsy Rose (played by Joey King in The Act), who killed her mother after years of abuse. According to Gypsy’s account, Dee Dee suffered from “factitious disorder imposed on another” (aka Munchausen syndrome by proxy), a psychiatric condition in which a caregiver makes a person sick to draw attention or sympathy to themselves. Gypsy is currently serving a ten-year prison sentence.
Hulu’s version, written by Nick Antosca and Michelle Dean, promises to explore the mother-daughter relationship in greater detail. King, 19, who shaved her head for the role, shared in an interview with Teen Vogue that it’s meant to be disturbing and isn’t dramatized. She said, “The story is so messed up and there are so many layers, and it’s so, so heavy. I never want it to feel like we’re making fun of the story or we’re doing anything to romanticize it. It’s nitty-gritty; it’s really disturbing.”
From the looks of the teaser, it’s not for the faint of heart. The Act premieres on March 20 on Hulu.
