‘Love and Death’: Jesse Plemons Joins Elizabeth Olsen in HBO Max’s True-Crime Series!!

We have movement on the Candy Montgomery TV series race, as HBO Max has just jumped out in front of Hulu by casting its male lead, with Jesse Plemons joining Elizabeth Olsen in the true-crime show Love and Death.

The limited series hails from TV titan David E. Kelley (The Undoing) and follows two church-going couples who seem to enjoy small-town family life in Texas… until somebody picks up an axe. Plemons has been cast as Allan Gore, who had an affair with Mrs. Montgomery. The show is inspired by the book Evidence of Love: A True Story of Passion and Death in the Suburbs and a collection of articles from Texas Monthly.

Lesli Linka Glatter (Homeland) will direct and executive produce Love and Death alongside Kelley as well as Nicole Kidman and Per Saari of Blossom Films and Scott Brown and Megan Creydt of Texas Monthly, plus Matthew Tinker, Michael Klick and Helen Verno.

“This is a gripping story about the frustrations and desires of two women in a small town that culminates in a terrible act of violence,” HBO Max‘s Sarah Aubrey said in a recent statement. Indeed, Hulu thinks so too, and the streamer is working with The Act duo Nick Antosca and Robin Veith on developing a rival project titled Candy that has Elisabeth Moss is slated to star.

Still, Plemons gives Love and Death a big boost — possibly even a leg up — and if nothing else, his casting proves that this project has real momentum. Plus, not only is Plemons a fantastic actor, but he was born in Dallas, so he should lend some authenticity to this cast. Heck, I wouldn’t be surprised if he first heard about this story growing up. Plemons‘ TV credits include Friday Night Lights, Breaking Bad, Fargo and Black Mirror, the latter of which earned him an Emmy nomination. His feature credits are also impressive, and it’s clear that Plemons is only just entering the prime of his career.

Plemons worked with Steven Spielberg on Bridge of Spies and The Post, Martin Scorsese on The Irishman and Apple‘s upcoming epic Killers of the Flower Moon, Paul Thomas Anderson on The Master and Charlie Kaufman‘s on I’m Thinking of Ending Things. That’s a hell of a resume, and that’s without mentioning Plemons‘ recent turn in the acclaimed Best Picture nominee Judas and the Black Messiah. Up next for the actor is a villainous turn in Disney‘s Jungle Cruise, Jane Campion‘s new film The Power of the Dog, and the Guillermo del Toro-produced horror movie Antlers, which reunites Plemons with his Hostiles director Scott Cooper. The fact that HBO Max even landed him for this project — and the red-hot Olsen, fresh off WandaVision — gives me faith that this script may be something special. We’ll see…