*Dirty John* Details: Everything We Know About the Bravo TV Adaptation
One of fall’s most-anticipated shows is Bravo’s Dirty John, an adaptation of the popular Los Angeles Times podcast that took the Internet by storm last fall. For the unfamiliar, Dirty John tells the real story of Debra Newell, a woman with a successful interior design company who began dating a man she met on the Internet named John Meehan. What started out as a picturesque relationship quickly spiraled into a terrifying sequence of lies, threats, and potential homicide. It’s a gripping story that’s even more nail-biting when you realized it actually happened to someone.
Naturally, Bravo saw the absolute pandemonium surrounding Dirty John and decided to adapt it for the small screen. The first of eight episodes airs next month. To get you psyched about the show, we compiled everything known about it in this handy-dandy list. Read on, and mark your calendars accordingly.
1. The premiere date. November 25 at 10 P.M. ET on Bravo.
2. The cast. Connie Britton is playing Debra Newell, the successful interior designer who met John Meehan on the Internet and began a relationship with him that turned ugly. Eric Bana is stepping into John’s shoes, while Julia Garner and Juno Temple are playing Debra’s daughters, Terra and Veronica, respectively. (“Veronica’s” real name is Jacquelyn.)
3. The source material. Obviously, it’s based on the Los Angeles Times article and podcast by Christopher Goffard, though there will be some changes. “We’re going deeper on the things maybe the podcast just touched on,” Dirty John‘s showrunner Alexandra Cunningham said, accordng to the Los Angeles Times.
PHOTO: Bravo/NBC
4. The show will focus on multiple perspectives. As opposed to just the reporter’s, like the podcast does.
5. There will be time jumps. “It’s all about, ‘Who is John?’ ” Dirty John‘s executive producer Jeffrey Reiner said. “We go back in time [and include] things that were not necessarily in the podcast.”
6. Britton met Newell as she was preparing for the role. “We actually spent a good deal of time together, and I really like her a lot, so it’s been such a great experience for me, and new experience for me, to sit down and really get to ask her questions,” Britton said, per the L.A. Times. “And also, it’s helping to give so much insight into the story in a way that maybe we weren’t able to experience in the podcast.”
7. There are several teasers out. Including an official trailer and a creepy video of John practicing an “I love you” speech for Debra. Peep them both, below
8. There won’t be any references to The Walking Dead. Without giving away spoilers, let’s just say the popular AMC zombie show is an integral part to the Dirty John podcast’s final act. However, because AMC is a competitor to NBC/Bravo, there won’t be a reference to it on the TV adaptation.
9. A second season has already been picked up, but there’s a catch. The series is an anthology, so season two will have nothing to do with Dirty John. “There’s a number of stories we can tell. We’re just trying to figure out which one will be the right one,” Dirty John executive producer Richard Suckle said, according to the L.A. Times.
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