The first teaser for American Crime Story: Impeachment hit the internet on Wednesday night, and while it only offered a glimpse into the latest installment of Ryan Murphy‘s drama, it definitely set the tone that fans can expect from the series. Starring Beanie Feldstein as Monica Lewinsky and Clive Owen as President Bill Clinton, Impeachment will dramatize the affair that rocked the nation and changed the face of American politics forever.
In the new trailer, the camera follows Feldstein’s Lewinsky as she moves through the White House to the Oval Office, smuggling in a gift for her lover. The scene is scored like a horror film, and viewers are not given glimpses of their faces at this point. Fans will have to wait for a full trailer to get a look at the rest of the cast, including Edi Falco as Hilary Clinton, Margo Martindale as Lucianne Goldberg, Sarah Paulson as Linda Tripp, Annaleigh Ashford plays Paula Jones, Anthony Green as Vice President Al Gore, and Billy Eichner as journalist Matt Drudge. GLOW star Betty Gilpin was supposed to play conservative pundit Ann Coulter, but the actress revealed that her storyline was ultimately scrapped.
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The first two episodes of the season will debut on FX Tuesday, Sept. 7 at 10 p.m. ET. This is the first season of the show since The Assassination of Gianni Versace aired back in early 2018, and is based on Jeffrey Toobin’s book A Vast Conspiracy: The Real Story of the Sex Scandal That Nearly Brought Down a President. Impeachment was originally planned to debut in September 2020 but was put on hold because of executive producer Ryan Murphy‘s packed schedule. The coronavirus pandemic also postponed production. Once filming started late last year, a member of the crew tested positive for the virus, forcing more delays.
The idea to make a season that focused on the Clinton impeachment trial was seen as controversial at first since it was going to air close to the 2020 presidential election at one point. In 2019, FX CEO John Landgraf defended the series, insisting the Clintons didn’t play a major part in the show they were making. “It’s really a revisionist history as told through the point of view of these women whose stories did not seem in any way central to the political stakes of what was going on but who became really central to that,” he told The Hollywood Reporter at the time. “Hillary is a character in it, but she’s not one of the main characters in it.”
