‘The Thing About Pam’ Trailer: Renée Zellweger Portrays Midwestern Murderess In Upcoming NBC True Crime Drama

If any genre’s stock has grown over the past decade, it’s been that of true crime. A trend that began in the mid-2010s with podcasts and docuseries like HBO’s “The Jinx” and Netflix’s “Making a Murderer” soon gave way to splashy TV fictionalizations like “Mindhunter” and FX’s “American Crime Story” series. The latest developments have been podcast adaptations like “Dirty John” and Apple TV+’s “The Shrink Next Door” that wink even more at the audience with self-aware casting choices and comic overtones.

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Now, NBC is rolling out its own shiny new dramatization of a chilling real-life murder saga. “The Thing About Pam” is adapted from a “Dateline” podcast based on their own news coverage chronicling the bizarre story of insurance worker Pam Hupp. Between 2011 and 2016, Hupp was implicated in at least two murders and eventually incarcerated after engaging in a prolonged cover-up. 

The plot is compelling enough on its own merit, but perhaps the most eye-catching element of the upcoming series is the presence of Renée Zellweger in the title role. This will be Zellweger’s first major part since 2019 when she won the “Best Actress” Academy Award for her work in “Judy.” Although the stigma around Hollywood stars doing TV has diminished with the advent of streaming (Zellweger herself also appeared in 2019’s Netflix series “What/If”), it’s surprising to see an actress with so much cachet at the center of a primetime NBC show. 

Zellweger’s supporting cast includes Josh Duhamel, Judy Greer, Katy Mixon, and Glenn Fleshler. The showrunner is Jenny Klein, who previously penned episodes of “The Witcher” and “Jessica Jones” (two other shows with notably complicated female protagonists).

“The Thing About Pam” will premiere on NBC at 10pm ET/PT on March 8.