Kiernan Shipka plays Lou in Roku’s Swimming with Sharks.
RokuRoku made headlines in January with its announcement that Daniel Radcliffe will play “Weird Al” Yankovic in an upcoming biopic, and the company is upping the ante with a slate of new originals in 2022. On Tuesday, Roku announced the upcoming arrival of Swimming with Sharks, a new show featuring Kiernan Shipka and Diane Kruger. The series lands on The Roku Channel in April.
Based on George Huang’s 1994 film of the same name, which starred Kevin Spacey and Frank Whaley, the series originated on Quibi as a modern remake, with the roles gender-swapped. The new tale follows a young assistant named Lou Simms (Shipka) who learns to navigate the good, bad and ugly of a Hollywood studio. Lou finesses an internship to work alongside her idol, Joyce Holt (Kruger), who is known among employees as a brash, abusive CEO. Tossed into an environment full of manipulation and power players, Lou turns out to be a formidable force herself.
Swimming with Sharks’ ensemble cast features Donald Sutherland as the studio’s owner, Riverdale alum Ross Butler, Thomas Dekker, Finn Jones, Erika Alexander and Gerardo Celasco.
“My goal was to subvert this story and come at if from a place of both wonder and corruption, through the eyes of two complex female perspectives,” said showrunner Kathleen Robertson. “Their performances are quite extraordinary,” she said of Shipka and Kruger.
Diane Kruger in Swimming with Sharks.
RokuShipka is best known for her roles as Sally Draper in Mad Men and Sabrina in Netflix’s Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. Kruger’s credits include Inglourious Basterds, Troy and The Bridge. Swimming with Sharks is one of the latest Roku Originals gleaned from Quibi’s former lineup. The show will consist of six 30-minute episodes released all in one batch, making it perfect for binge-watchers.
The Roku Channel has more than 80,000 movies and shows that are available to stream for free, and the streaming service has a reach that extends to roughly 70 million households. Viewers in the US, UK and Canada will be able to watch Swimming with Sharks upon its debut in April.
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