Jon Hamm’s American Hostage Takes Another Run at One of the Strangest True Stories Ever

Some true stories are so utterly bonkers that hearing them once is never enough.

The 1977 Tony Kiritsis hostage crisis is one of those stories for me. I know what happened. I’ve watched other people tell me what happened.

I recently watched Dead Man’s Wire dramatize what happened, loved it, and naturally ended up Googling the case afterward because knowing how a story ends does absolutely nothing to diminish my need to know more about it.

So when MGM+ announced American Hostage, an eight-episode series digging into the same extraordinary ordeal, my reaction was basically: Sign me up.

Today, MGM+ released the key art, official trailer, and new images for American Hostage, a high-stakes anthology series starring and executive produced by Emmy Award winner Jon Hamm.

The series, co-created by Shawn Ryan and Eileen Myers, premieres Sunday, September 20, with two episodes, followed by weekly installments through the November 1 finale.

And if you’ve somehow missed this particular chapter of American history, prepare yourself because it really does sound like something somebody invented after being told their first hostage story wasn’t dramatic enough.

American Hostage is based on the acclaimed first season of the scripted podcast of the same name and centers on Indianapolis radio reporter Fred Heckman, played by Hamm.

In February 1977, Tony Kiritsis took mortgage company executive Dick Hall hostage after a dispute involving a real estate deal. But Kiritsis didn’t merely take Hall captive.

He wired a sawed-off shotgun around Hall’s neck.

And then he called the media.

Specifically, he called Heckman.

Kiritsis wanted his grievances heard, and he believed Heckman’s popular radio program could give him an audience. That decision dragged a journalist who should have been covering the unfolding crisis directly into the middle of it.

Giovanni Ribisi plays Kiritsis, while TV Fanatic favorite Kristoffer Polaha takes on the unenviable role of Dick Hall.

William Jackson Harper stars as Ben Hairston, Mireille Enos plays Barbara Heckman, Jonathan Tucker is FBI Special Agent Cormac McNally, and Kat Cunning plays Ibby Hall.

That cast alone would get my attention.

Jon Hamm. Giovanni Ribisi. Kristoffer Polaha. Mireille Enos. Jonathan Tucker. William Jackson Harper.

It’s practically a gathering of actors who can actually hold the screen without explosions every six minutes reminding us where to look. What a concept.

But the trailer is what really sold me.

We’ve already seen Kiritsis’ story explored in documentaries and, most recently, the 2025 film Dead Man’s Wire, starring Bill Skarsgård, Dacre Montgomery, Cary Elwes, Myha’la, Colman Domingo, and Al Pacino.

Dead Man’s Wire worked incredibly well for me, but American Hostage has something the movie didn’t: time.

Eight episodes can explore not only what Kiritsis did but the bizarre ecosystem that grew around him as police, journalists, government officials, frightened families, and ordinary people tried to determine what the hell they were supposed to do next.

And judging by the trailer, American Hostage understands where some of the most interesting questions lie.

When Kiritsis calls Heckman, he doesn’t simply want attention. He’s seeking legitimacy. He believes that if Heckman interviews him, people will finally listen.

Suddenly, a radio journalist isn’t merely reporting on a hostage crisis. He’s helping shape one.

The trailer keeps returning to that uncomfortable collision between journalism and survival.

What happens when refusing to participate might get somebody killed? What happens when participating changes the story?

Where does reporting end when the person you’re covering is taking cues from you? And perhaps most importantly, who gets to decide where that line is when someone’s life may depend on it?

At one point, someone tells Heckman that if journalists abandon their principles because they believe they’re saving someone’s life, they risk losing their way.

His response is that he’ll hold the line.

The answer he gets may as well be the thesis for the entire series: Lines have a funny habit of moving.

By the end of the trailer, Heckman insists that he’s still the lead reporter covering the story. Someone corrects him. 

Fred is the story.

That’s when American Hostage becomes considerably more interesting than another dramatization of an infamous crime.

It’s also examining the people around Kiritsis and the ethical compromises created when an unstable man with a shotgun and an audience suddenly realizes just how much power he possesses.

And because this happened in the 1970s, before social media turned every crisis into an instantaneous global spectacle, there is something especially fascinating about watching radio become the battleground.

Kiritsis understood something decades before everyone started carrying a broadcasting platform in their pocket: If you can control the story, you can command an extraordinary amount of attention.

Frankly, I’m surprised we haven’t exhausted this story yet. Instead, every version seems to expose another strange corner of it.

Maybe that’s because the basic facts remain almost impossible to believe. Maybe it’s because Kiritsis himself remains such an unsettling figure. 

Or maybe it’s because the story raises questions about journalism, publicity, law enforcement, desperation, and spectatorship that haven’t exactly become less relevant over the past 49 years.

Whatever the reason, I’m perfectly willing to go down this rabbit hole again. And, honestly, probably again after that. When I’m in, I’m all in.

American Hostage will also make its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival before arriving on MGM+.

The series is executive produced by Shawn Ryan, Eileen Myers, Sharon Hoffman, Jon Hamm, Connie Tavel, Marney Hochman, Shawn Christensen, Gabriel Mason, Jen Roskind, Adam Arkin, and Nina Lopez Corrado. Arkin and Corrado also serve as directors.

Check out the trailer below.

If it leaves you thinking some variation of “There is absolutely no way this happened,” welcome to the club.

It did.

And I’ll almost certainly be Googling it again before September 20.

TV Fanatic will be covering American Hostage weekly when it premieres on MGM+.