You may think you know what Cape Fear’s story is, but the Apple TV show, from the beginning, is completely different from the story you may expect. Sure, each adaptation of John MacDonald’s 1957 novel The Executioners changes the story a little — the 1962 movie toned down the action to more palatable to mainstream movie audiences, while the 1991 movie added more morally gray elements to Max Cady’s revenge quest.
But the changes to this miniseries are even more fundamental. Instead of convict Max Cady seeking revenge against a lawyer for testifying against him, this series’ Max Cady, played by Javier Bardem, is after two lawyers: Tom Bowden (Patrick Wilson), the prosecutor who put him in prison, and his now-wife Anna Bowden (Amy Adams), who just happens to be Max’s former defense attorney who advised him to take a plea deal — and was sleeping with Tom. That’s a massive, and some would say melodramatic, change to the story, but according to showrunner Nick Antosca, that was always part of the plan.
