‘Alaska Daily’ Creator Wants Hilary Swank Series to ‘Inspire an Appreciation’ for Reporters
Fall Preview
Here’s the headline: “Big City Reporter Writes Own Ticket to Alaska Amid Scandal.” That’s the start of the action in this compelling series from Spotlight director Tom McCarthy. NYC journalist Eileen Fitzgerald (Hilary Swank) relocates way out West when an issue involving a source lands her in hot water, and begins to find her way back through a story about a Native Alaskan’s death, which may be homicide.
McCarthy says that unlike Spotlight — the Best Picture winner about the Boston Globe’s deep dive into sex abuse allegations — Alaska Daily looks into what drives reporters. “I hope to inspire an appreciation for the work they do,” he explains.
He found the perfect collaborator in two-time Oscar winner Swank: “There is something in her DNA…. She can be incredibly unapologetic in her work.”
Alaska has proven an ideal setting too: McCarthy used a 2019–20 investigative series about Native communities in the Anchorage Daily News as inspiration. It “feels like an exciting backdrop,” he says, “especially as a place where a reporter from New York City ends up.”
Alaska Daily, Series Premiere, Thursday, October 6, 10/9c, ABC
This is an excerpt from TV Guide Magazine’s 2022 Fall Preview issue. For more first looks at fall’s new shows, pick up the issue, on newsstands now.
