Armie Hammer Joins Paramount+'s 'The Godfather' Series

Armie Hammer has reportedly joined the cast of The Offer, a new series about The Godfather coming to Paramount+. According to Deadline, Hammer has been cast as Al Ruddy, a producer on The Godfather, in a series that chronicles the behind-the-scenes drama in making the iconic movie. Ruddy himself will also be a producer on The Offer.

Hammer is treading new territory with his role in The Offer, a 10-episode limited series ordered for a streaming service that has not even launched yet. Starting in 2021, Paramount+ will take the place of CBS All Access, becoming the one-stop-shop for everything in the ViacomCBS library. The Offer will be a big draw for the new service, chronicling Francis Ford Coppola's cherished 1972 mob drama The Godfather.

The Offer will reportedly be written and executive produced by Michael Tolkin, an Oscar and Emmy-nominated writer known for scripts like The Player and Escape at Dannemora. Other executive producers include Nikki Toscano and Leslie Greif. Paramount TV Studios is overseeing the project.

From the sound of it, The Offer might be far from filming since Hammer has several other projects to shoot first. He stars in Death on the Nile — a completed adaptation of an Agatha Christie novel coming soon to theaters — and will soon start shooting Shotgun Wedding, directed by Jason Moore. Next year, Hammer reportedly intends to return to the theater in Anna D. Shapiro's production of The Minutes, where he will play Tracy Letts.

The Offer is just one of the main titles in Paramount+'s slate, along with a reboot of BET's The Game, a revival of VH1's docuseries Behind The Music, and a true crime spin-off of Criminal Minds. It will also have a spy thriller from Yellowstone co-creator Taylor Sheridan.

ViacomCBS announced Paramount+ in September, explaining that it would take the place of CBS All Access starting in 2021. ViacomCBS' president-CEO Bob Bakish said: "Paramount is an iconic and storied brand beloved by consumers all over the world, and it is synonymous with quality, integrity and world-class storytelling."

"With Paramount Plus, we're excited to establish one global streaming brand in the broad-pay segment that will draw on the sheer breadth and depth of the ViacomCBS portfolio to offer an extraordinary collection of content for everyone to enjoy," he concluded.