Paramount+ Orders Viola Davis Thriller 'Ascent'
Get the Culture newsletter
Daily culture — film, music, books, the trends and ideas worth your attention. Free.
- Paramount+ greenlit Ascent, a character-driven thriller starring Oscar and Emmy winner Viola Davis as elite corporate fixer Catriona Vail, whose estranged daughter is in danger
- John Logan (Skyfall, Gladiator, Michael) created the series and will serve as showrunner, executive producing alongside Michael Aguilar, Davis, and Julius Tennon for JuVee Productions
- The plot centers on Vail weaponizing her 'ruthless skills' in the world of global corporate crisis and damage control when her estranged daughter is in danger
- Production is slated to begin in Los Angeles in 2027 on the Paramount Lot, with the show rumored to be part of the latest round of California TV tax incentives
- Davis called the project 'bold, awe inspiring and deeply unique,' while Paramount Television Studios president Matt Thunell called her 'exactly the generational talent' to bring Vail to life
- Ascent is the second TV series lead role for EGOT-winner Davis after her Emmy-winning turn on ABC's How To Get Away With Murder, and only Logan's second TV series after Showtime's Penny Dreadful
Why it matters: This series gives Viola Davis her first TV lead role since How To Get Away With Murder, paired with a three-time Oscar-nominated showrunner whose recent biopic Michael crossed $1 billion. For Paramount+, Ascent slots into a post-merger scripted slate stacked with prestige talent — Branagh, Strong, Kidman, Hathaway — as the streamer competes for attention in a crowded prestige-thriller marketplace.
