A new long-awaited crime drama series is coming to Paramount+ soon, according to Deadline. The series is entitled Happy Face and will star the Tony-winning and Emmy-nominated actress Annaleigh Ashford (Impeachment: American Crime Story, Welcome to Chippendales). Michael Showalter (The Eyes of Tammy Faye, The Dropout) is expected to direct the first episode, and CBS Studios will produce.
Executive producers on this project are Jennifer Cacicio (Your Honor, Shooter), who will take on the reigns as showrunner as well, and Robert (Evil, The Good Wife) and Michelle (The Bite, BrainDead) King. Production on the eight-episode new series is set to begin this year and will premiere in 2025 on Paramount+.
Ashford has guest starred for the Kings’ productions before, including two other CBS Studios original and Paramount+ series, the newly wrapped show The Good Fight, and the hit show Evil.
Also, according to Deadline, Happy Face is adapted from the real-life story of Melissa Moore (Friends Speak, Monster in My Family) and her podcast by the same name with iHeartPodcasts, as well as Moore’s autobiography entitled Shattered Silence with author M. Bridget Cook (The Witness Wore Red, Skinhead Confessions: From Hate To Hope)
When Moore was 15, she uncovered that her father was the infamous “Happy Face” serial killer. Now, in adulthood, she has changed her name and kept her secret as her father has been serving his lifetime sentence in prison. Moore was also a former coordinator for Dr. Oz.
Ashford will portray Melissa, and the series will follow the actual events of Melissa’s life in which her father reaches out to her to confess the death of one of his victims, which then leads her to an in-depth investigation of her father and his many murders. Her identity is then challenged as a result of this revelation.
Michelle and Robert King, Cacicio, Liz Gloter (Bernie, Faster), Moore, Will Pearson (mental_floss: The List Show, mental_floss: The Big Question), Conal Byrne (Pop Culture Weekly with Kyle Mcmahon, Death, Grief & Other Sh*t We Don’t Discuss), Jordana Mollick (Spoiler Alert, The Shrink Next Door) and Showalter are set to be the complete list of executive producers.
CBS Studios will produce the series alongside Semi-Formal Productions, iHeartPodcasts and King Size Productions. As per Deadline, Happy Face was first created in 2020 by Paramount+ and the forerunning CBS All Access, then the series was ordered in 2021. Paramount Global Content Distribution distributes Happy Face.
Ashford, who just a while ago wrapped production on a forthcoming horror/thriller film entitled Dust by Searchlight Pictures and starring Sarah Paulson (American Horror Story, 12 Years a Slave), is nominated for an Emmy for her work alongside Kumail Nanjiani (The Big Sick, The Lovebirds) in Welcome to Chippendales, a Hulu limited series. Ashford also took on the role of Paula Jones in Impeachment: American Crime Story for FX. Likewise, Ashford has starred in B Positive, a CBS sitcom.
In the musical realm, Ashford has garnered lots of praise. She has won a Tony, Outer Critics Circle and Drama Desk awards for You Can’t Take It with You, a revamping of the Broadway classic. She has recently starred as Mrs. Lovett, alongside Josh Groban (Muppets Most Wanted, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend) in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, the Tony-nominated revamp of Stephen Sondheim’s (Dick Tracy, West Side Story) musical. Ashford obtained a Tony nomination for Best Actress in a Musical and a Grammy nomination for the Broadway cast recording.
CAA represents Ashford, along with Schreck Rose Dapell and Beth Rosner Management.