Many would agree that Jon Hamm is a bonafide leading man and definitely proved that through his work on the critically acclaimed AMC series Mad Men. So it’s somewhat surprising that the Emmy winner has served as the lead of a TV show since the celebrated drama ended in 2015. Hamm fans have likely missed seeing him in that capacity and, luckily for them, there’s good news on that front. The actor has officially scored his firsting leading role since his tenure as Don Draper ended. And interestingly enough, it’ll see him sticking around Apple TV+, where he’s appeared as of late.
The 52-year-old actor has most recently been featured on Season 3 of The Morning Show (which has been viewed by Apple TV+ subscribers). The Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Aniston-led show tapped him for a supporting role, and Jon Hamm’s casting was apparently crucial. Now, Hamm has been cast to play the lead in Your Friends and Neighbors, a crime drama. It was reported by TVLine this week that the production had received a series order from Apple’s streaming platform.
Created by See and Warrior’s Jonathan Topper, Your Friends and Neighbors will have the A-lister playing the role of Coop. The official logline describes the character as “a recently divorced hedge fund manager who, after being fired, resorts to stealing from the wealthy residents in his tony upstate New York suburb in order to keep his family’s lifestyle afloat.” That sounds interesting enough, but it sounds like the story will really take a turn when the “petty crimes begin to reinvigorate him until he breaks into the wrong house at the wrong time.” Topper also serves as an EP alongside Connie Tavel, who worked on the leading man’s (underrated) 2022 mystery comedy, Confess, Fletch.
John Hamm’s TV comeback with The Morning Show was exciting enough, but this sounds like a truly perfect role for him. He’s an actor who knows how to tow the line between comedy and tragedy and, based on the premise, it sounds like he’ll be leaning more into the latter with this latest production. Also, that description alone is incredibly intriguing, and it honestly makes me think of an AMC character who once opted to “break bad” while going through a tough time.
TMS isn’t the only TV-related fare that the No Sudden Move alum has been working on as of late. He’s also featured amongst the ensemble of FX’s Fargo Season 5, which we know a bit about. The show has earned him praise thus far and, just this past week, he scored a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film. Unsurprisingly, Jon Hamm also has some big-screen work on the horizon. He’s part of the cast of the musical Mean Girls movie, in which he plays Coach Carr, and is lending his voice to the role of Sentinel Prime in Transformers One.
One would hope that Your Friends and Neighbors ushers in a glorious new era of TV for the actor and results in him showing up on our screens for at least the next several years. There’s still much more to learn about the series, but I’m confident that the lead actor and his colleagues will knock it out of the park.
Keep your eyes on the 2024 TV schedule in case Jon Hamm’s upcoming show lands a release date there. At present, you can check out new Fargo episodes, which air Tuesdays at 10 p.m. ET on FX and are subsequently available to stream with a Hulu subscription.
