Hollywood is coming for Silicon Valley, and Billy Magnussen and Sarah Goldberg are leading the charge. The two actors have been cast as the leads in AMC and AMC+’s new tech-centric drama series by writer Jonathan Glatzer. It is just one of several series aimed at dressing down the insular Northern California tech world that’s being shopped and/or developed around town at the moment, but it is the first one to get greenlit so far this season.
Both Magnussen and Goldberg — perhaps most well known for their time leading the HBO series The Franchise and Barry, respectively — will play central characters in the as-yet-untitled series from the Succession and Better Call Saul writer, as it is being reported by Deadline. The show’s central conflict will center around a rift between the self-stylized “inventor of the future” tech CEO of a data mining company (Billy Magnussen) and his self-serving “performance psychologist” (Sarah Goldberg), and the scandal they find themselves in after it is revealed that the company is actually exploiting people’s personal data and information. Which, you know, is probably/totally/definitely not happening right now as we speak to all of us! Right? Right?!
Related
One ‘Silicon Valley’ Actor Has a New Idea for a Spinoff, but Won’t Be Back for ‘The Office’ Spinoff
Chris Diamantopoulos, who starred in ‘Silicon Valley’ as Russ Hanneman, wouldn’t turn down the opportunity to return to the series in a new way.
Though focused on the Silicon Valley world generally (and no, not that one), the series is said to take a deeper look at the people who self-mythologize and follow the coding rule of break first, ask questions later. “The tech world and the future it is offering is in the hands of some frighteningly self-involved people,” Glatzer explained in an earlier statement after the series was picked up by AMC Studios. “They radiate a bizarre, semi-deity-like energy, but even they cannot escape their own humanity. So, rather than do something directly about ‘tech,’ I wanted to focus on the people. And not just the titans, but the antsy wannabe titans, the kids and spouses of the wannabes; their housekeepers, their schools, their psychiatrists, their dogs and gurus alike, all of them living in this bubble where they truly believe — and perhaps rightly — they are inventing the future, dogs excepted.”
AMC is Betting Big On Silicon Valley This Year
In a statement released earlier this year, president of entertainment and AMC Studios for AMC Networks, Dan McDermott, had this to say about the series:
“Get ready for a captivating, enthralling, authentic look behind the curtain of Silicon Valley. Jonathan is a massive talent and AMC is lucky to be the home of this, his first series creation brought to life. The show, which chronicles the lives of characters creating the world we will all inhabit, is right here and right now. Truth is stranger than fiction, especially here.”
In addition to their previous HBO series, Magnussen and Goldberg also have several other projects in various stages of production and development. Magnussen will next be seen opposite Margot Robbie in Kogonada’s next feature film, A Big Bold Beautiful Journey, and then later appear as Pleakley in Disney’s live-action Lilo & Stitch. As for Goldberg, she can next be seen opposite Isabella Rossellini and Dennis Haysbert in Todd Strauss-Schulson’s Silent Retreat and the Sundance television series SisterS.
Glatzer’s as-yet-untitled Silicon Valley series does not yet have a release date.
