Airdate: The First Lady

New anthology drama The First Lady will screen on Paramount+ in mid-April.

Viola Davis (Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom) stars as former first lady Michelle Obama, Michelle Pfeiffer (French Exit) as Betty Ford and Gillian Anderson (The Crown) as Eleanor Roosevelt.

The series also stars Kiefer Sutherland as President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Aaron Eckhart as President Gerald Ford, Dakota Fanning as Susan Elizabeth Ford, Regina Taylor  as Michelle Robinson Obama’s mother Marian Shields Robinson, Lily Rabe  as Lorena “Hick” Hickok and Jayme Lawson  as Young Michelle Obama. Additional guest stars include O-T Fagbenle as President Barack Obama, Judy Greer as Nancy Howe, Ellen Burstyn as Sara Delano Roosevelt, Jackie Earle Haley as Louis McHenry Howe, Maria Dizzia as Lucy Mercer Rutherfurd and Kate Mulgrew as Susan Sher.

Produced for Showtime by Lionsgate Television, the 10-episode series, created by Aaron Cooley, is executive produced by Cathy Schulman (Crash), who also serves as showrunner, and Susanne Bier (The Undoing) executive produces and directs all of season one.

The First Lady is a revelatory reframing of American leadership, told through the lens of the women at the heart of the White House. In the government’s East Wing, many of history’s most impactful and world-changing decisions have been hidden from view, made by America’s charismatic, complex and dynamic First Ladies. The series will peel back the curtain on the personal and political lives of three unique, enigmatic women and their families, tracing their journeys to Washington, dipping into their pasts and following them beyond the White House into their greatest moments. Through interweaving storylines so intimate it’s as if the White House walls are talking, season one focuses on the enlightening lives of Michelle Obama, Betty Ford and Eleanor Roosevelt.

Cathy Schulman, via her Welle Entertainment, executive produces The First Lady along with Susanne Bier, JuVee Productions’ Viola Davis, Julius Tennon and Andrew Wang, Aaron Cooley, Pavlina Hatoupis, Alyson Feltes, Jeff Gaspin via Gaspin Media and Brad Kaplan via Link Entertainment.

Monday, 18 April on Paramount+.