See Renee Zellweger's Incredible Transformation Into Murderer Pam Hupp for 'The Thing About Pam'
Renee Zellweger already won an Oscar for transforming into Judy Garland and now she's angling for an Emmy by turning into convicted murderer Pam Hupp for NBC's The Thing About Pam. The Peacock network released the first teaser and official photos from the limited series on Thursday. It is scheduled to debut on March 8 at 10 p.m. ET.
The series centers on the 2011 murder of Betsy Faria. Hupp's testimony helped convict Faria's husband Russ Faria for Betsy's murder in 2013. However, he was exonerated after a second trial in 2015, which included new evidence that implicated Hupp in the murder. Hupp is now serving life in prison for another murder though, as she was convicted in the 2016 murder of Louis Gumpenberger. In July 2021, Hupp was finally charged with Faria's murder. She was also connected to the 2013 death of her mother, Shirley Neumann, but a St. Louis County Police investigation was inconclusive.
The Thing About Pam also stars Katy Mixon as Faria; Glenn Fleischer as Russ; Josh Duhamel as Russ' attorney Joel Schwartz; Judy Greer as Lincoln County, Missouri prosecutor Leah Askey; Sean Bridgers as Hupp's husband Mark; Suanne Spoke as Faria's mother Janet; Gideon Adlon as Faria's daughter Mariah; and Mac Brandt as Det. McCarrick. Dateline journalist Keith Morrison recorded narration for the series, which is an NBC News Studios and Blumhouse Television production. Jenny Klein served as showrunner.
NBC News has already had success telling the fascinating true crime story. Dateline covered the Hupp case in several episodes. Dateline also produced The Thing About Pam as a podcast in 2019, and it is still one of the most downloaded podcasts on Apple Podcasts.
The Thing About Pam is Zellweger's first project since she won an Oscar for playing Judy Garland in 2019's Judy. She already has her next project lined up, The Back Nine, a golf comedy directed by 2 Broke Girls creator Michael Patrick King. Zellweger also starred in the 2019 Netflix series What/If. She won her first Oscar in 2004 for her supporting role in Cold Mountain. Her other recent credits include Bridget Jones's Baby, Same Kind of Different as Me, My Own Love Song, Case 39, The Whole Truth, and Here and Now.