Dirty John is coming back with another incredibly messy marriage to deal with.
Amanda Peet and Christian Slater will star in the new season of the anthology drama, which is moving from Bravo to USA, to tell the story of Betty Broderick and her husband Dan, a story that spans from the 1960s to the 1980s.
Peet plays Betty, “the perfect Southern California blonde wife and mother.” Slater plays Dan, her college sweetheart husband, who she supported through both medical and law school until he became a bigshot lawyer in San Diego.
Then Dan hired Linda, “a bright, beautiful young woman without baggage with whom he can happily forget the struggles of his past,” and thus we get to the most dramatic part of the press release: “Betty’s attempts to fight back and enraged refusals to accept reality only serve to isolate and destabilize her until she loses her very identity. And Dan’s cold confidence blinds him to the bear he has created, and won’t stop poking…until it’s too late.”
“The first season of Dirty John was a story of twisted love and coercive control–and both these insidious elements are also present in and integral to the story of Betty Broderick, whom I have wanted to write about since I became a writer,” creator Alexandra Cunningham said in a statement. “I can’t wait to see Amanda and Christian bring it to life.
Season one, which starred Connie Britton as a successful interior decorator who fell for a conman (Eric Bana) known as Dirty John, was based on a story told in the LA Times and a podcast. Betty Broderick’s story was told in an LA Times Magazine article in the early 90s, which inspired a two-part TV movie in 1992, starring Meredith Baxter and Stephen Collins.
There have also been multiple books written about Betty, and she inspired a 1991 Law & Order episode called “The Wages of Love.” Broderick herself did a ton of interviews and even appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show twice.
Spoiler alert: the case has also been covered on the podcast My Favorite Murder, which might tell you something about where this story is going.
The first season of Dirty John aired on Bravo, but Dirty John: The Betty Broderick Story will air on USA. It is currently in production.