Kaitlyn Dever (Booksmart) has signed on to star in Hulu’s limited series Dopesick opposite Michael Keaton (Dumbo), Deadline has learned.
The series is centered on a compassionate school doctor (Keaton), who finds himself embroiled in a sinister corporate scheme that perpetuates America’s opioid addiction crisis. t takes viewers from a distressed Virginia mining community to the hallways of the DEA and the opulence of “one percenter” Big Pharma Manhattan. The unsparing yet deeply human portraits of the various affected families and their intersecting stories hold up a mirror to where America is right now, while shining a hopeful light on the heroes battling the worst drug epidemic in American history.
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Dever will play Betsy, a proud female coal miner and patient of Dr. Finnix. They have a close relationship that is tested with the release of the new painkiller OxyContin.
Peter Sarsgaard (Garden State) has also joined the project, and will play Rick Mountcastle, an Assistant U.S. Attorney prosecuting the Purdue Pharma case.
The eight-episode limited series based on Beth Macy’s bestselling book, will be directed by Barry Levinson (Rain Main), and hails from Empire co-creator/exec producer Danny Strong, who also wrote the series, The Handmaid’s Tale executive producer Warren Littlefield and Touchstone Television. Strong and Levinson will executive produce with Keaton, John Goldwyn (Dexter), Littlefield via the Littlefield Company, Macy and Karen Rosenfelt (Twilight).
Dopesick, set to premiere in 2021, is one of several upcoming Hulu limited series, along with Nine Perfect Strangers, starring Nicole Kidman and Melissa McCarthy and The Dropout, starring Kate McKinnon.
Source: Deadline
