Elle Fanning stars in the trailer for Hulu’s The Girl From Plainville. Based on the Esquire article of the same name written by Jesse Baron, the upcoming limited series focuses on Michelle Carter (Fanning) and the 2014 case of so-called ‘texting-suicide’ in which Carter was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in the suicide of her boyfriend Conrad Roy III. Across eight episodes, the true-crime drama promises to examine the relationship between Michelle and Conard, his death, and its aftermath.
Along with Fanning, who leads Hulu’s acclaimed comedy The Great, Colton Ryan plays the role of Conrad Roy. The cast of Girl From Plainville also includes Chloë Sevigny, Norbert Leo Butz, Cara Buono, Kai Lennox, Peter Gerety, and Michael Mosley. The series is co-created by Liz Hannah, who was nominated for an Oscar as the screenwriter of 2017’s The Post, and Patrick Macmanus. Although it’s still a few weeks away, viewers now have a better idea of what to expect with the unveiling of a full trailer.
The trailer, shared by Hulu, runs through the highlights of Girl From Plainville. Set to premiere on March 29 with three episodes, the series will feature Michelle’s initial devastation at learning of Conard’s death. But things quickly take a complicated turn as text messages reveal how Michelle seemed to encourage Conard’s suicide, with Michelle denying responsibility all the while. The drama will also linger on how Conard’s family dealt with the loss, as his mother Lynn Roy (Sevigny) struggles to make sense of what happened. Watch the trailer below.
Click here to view the trailer on YouTube
Girl from Plainville is Hulu’s latest foray into the realm of crime, as the streamer has also debuted The Dropout and Pam & Tommy. Each of these stories is different, but they drive home Hollywood’s renewed trend of turning to the real world for its stories. Netflix, too, has Inventing Anna, while Showtime recently bowed Super Pumped which dramatizes the rise of Uber. With the help of big-name actors and reliable talent behind the camera, these offerings have stood out in an increasingly crowded television landscape.
In the same vein though, in its quest for dramatization, and in the need to tell a tidy narrative, these limited series have approached the facts and characters with a notable looseness. To take Pam & Tommy as an example, the show ultimately insists that Rand Gauthier felt remorse for stealing the private sex tape between Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee. In actuality, as reporting has illuminated, Gauthier continued to brag about his theft for years. It remains to be seen what responsibility The Girl from Plainville feels about sticking to the facts, even if those facts are thorny and unsatisfying.
