After having premiered on AT&T’s Audience Network a few weeks ago, the first two episodes of the adaptation of Stephen King‘s Mr. Mercedes are now available online. Just head over to the Audience Network website now to get caught up on what you’ve been missing.
Based on Stephen King’s 2014 book, Mr. Mercedes follows demented killer Brady Hartsfield, who taunts a retired police detective Bill Hodges with a series of lurid letters and emails, forcing the ex-cop to undertake a private, and potentially felonious, crusade to bring the killer to justice before he is able to strike again.
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Brendan Gleeson leads as Detective Bill Hodges, along with Harry Treadaway (Penny Dreadful) as Brady Hartsfield. Jharrel Jerome (Moonlight) is cast as Jerome Robinson, Scott Lawrence (Avatar) as Detective Peter Dixon, Robert Stanton (Mercury Rising) as Anthony “Robi” Frobisher, and Ann Cusack (Nightcrawler) as Olivia Trelawney, with Mary Louise-Parker (Weeds) as Janey Patterson, and Holland Taylor (The Truman Show) as Ida Silver. Kelly Lynch (Deborah Hartsfield), Justine Lupe (Holly Gibney) and Breeda Wool (Lou Linklatter) also star.
In a chilling coincidence, the events that kick off the series involve the killer driving his car into a crowded area to murder innocent bystanders.
“We can’t keep up with the mess in the world…it affects me and all of us in a certain way,” explained director and executive producer Jack Bender explained at the Television Critics Association summer press tour. “I felt there was a responsibility to show that in our show.” He added that one of his goals with the series was to “show it in a realistic way but not put any kind of frame about it.
Star Brendan Gleeson was relieved to discover that this opening sequence was based on a real event and wasn’t just conjured from the recesses of King’s imagination.
“It has been taken from life into art. I was uneasy with the notion of putting this out there. Anybody can get into a car. It already has existed,” Gleeson confessed. “For our point of view, there’s no indulgence in the violence for titillation…the consequences are very real.”
Harry Treadaway plays the man behind the wheel, “Mr. Mercedes” himself. In order to get into the complicated headspace of a serial killer, the actor said he watched UFC, Shark Tank and Fox News.
“It’s terrifying and sad and disturbing that we have people out there that obviously need help and don’t find it,” detailed Treadaway. “I think Stephen King taps into the zeitgeist of what scares us so amazingly well.”
Mr. Mercedes is airing now on the Audience Network.
Photo Credit: Sonar Entertainment
