‘The Savant’ Trailer: Jessica Chastain Delves into Terrorists’ Minds to Prevent Extremist Attacks

Jessica Chastain is living a double life in the very first look at Apple TV+‘s upcoming crime thriller series, The Savant.

In a newly released trailer, the Oscar-winning actress is living by day as a suburban mom and wife, hanging out with her husband (Nnamdi Asomugha) and their two kids. By night, however, Jodi (Chastain) is a terrorist hunting operative set on stopping extremist attacks before they happen.

“I track people who are planning attacks,” Chastain says in the trailer. “My job is pretending to think like them, to stop those people from doing really bad things.”

To stop “snipers, bombings, ambushes,” as her character notes in the trailer, Jodi must infiltrate online forums and hate groups to monitor potential threats and to suss out the exact moment that hate speech and intolerance can turn potentially deadly.

The wild series is based on a true story, which was first covered in a 2019 Cosmopolitan article written by Andrea Stanley, in which the author asks, “Is It Possible to Stop a Mass Shooting Before It Happens?” The real Savant’s name, location, and other identifying details have never been released, and what’s more, the original article posits that her job is so hush-hush that much of her own family has no clue what she does.

While the show — penned by The Americans and House of Cards writer Melissa James Gibson — is based on the true life-saving woman who goes simply by “K” in the Cosmo article, the series follows Jodi as she tracks Jason (Pablo Schreiber), a suspicious figure with ill intent.

“He’s recruiting for something,” Chastain says as scenes of Schreiber’s character firing a gun and organizing a group of cohorts play. “I don’t know what it is, but it’s massive. This guy isn’t just planning violence, he’s out to make a statement… the kind that history refers to with a month and a date.”

Aside from Chastain, Asomugha, and Schreiber, The Savant stars Succession alum Dagmara Domińczyk, Michael Mosley, James Badge Dale, Cole Doman, Trinity Lee Shirley, and Toussaint Francois Battiste.

The eight-episode series debuts on Apple TV+ with two episodes on Friday, September 26, with episodes releasing one at a time through Friday, November 7.

Apple TV+ comes with a seven-day free trial for new subscribers and has just one ad-free streaming plan available for $13.99/month.