Showtime has been working with Ben Affleck and Matt Damon on their upcoming Boston crime drama City on a Hill for what seems like ages, but the wait is almost over as the premium cabler has just dropped the first trailer. This isn’t the first time Affleck and Damon have teamed as executive producers to bring a television show to life, as the two worked on SYFY’s short-lived dystopian corporate drama Incorporated. Now, however, the pair is trying again, this time with a dark drama that will bring them back to their old stomping grounds of Boston, and they’ve brought Kevin Bacon along to lead the way.
The project has been in the works since 2017, when both Bacon and co-star Aldis Hodge were cast in what was then the pilot episode, before Showtime placed an official series order. Since then, the cast has grown considerably. Joining Bacon and Hodge are Jill Hennessy as Jenny Rhodes, wife of Bacon’s Jackie Rhodes, as well as Jonathan Tucker and Rory Culkin as members of a family of armored truck robbers. That family becomes the unlikely catalyst for change as Jackie and newly appointed District Attorney Decourcy Ward (Hodge) collaborate to not only bring the criminals down, but change the dynamic of corruption and tribalism within the confines of Boston law enforcement.
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At first glance, City on a Hill looks like it might as well be a sequel to The Town, the 2010 action-drama in which Affleck not only starred, but also co-wrote and directed. This time, however, the main thrust of the story revolves around Bacon’s corrupt FBI agent, who despite his shortcomings nevertheless sides with Ward in an effort to bring about sweeping change in early ‘90s Boston. Check out the full trailer below:
It’s an extensive trailer, one that gives a fairly comprehensive look at the cast as well as the particulars of the story. Of course, the one thing everyone is going to be talking about the most is the veracity of the Boston accent, which has, in the past, been egregiously overdone in films like, say, Black Mass, The Departed, and The Perfect Storm, to name a few. This time, it sounds as though the Bacon is the only one really going for a pronounced regional accent, and though it’ll likely have its detractors, it’s certainly not a deal breaker.
Besides, the rest of the series looks as though it’ll be a compelling new offering for Showtime, one that will (obviously) appeal to fans of The Town and pretty much any book by author Dennis Lehane. That’s not bad company to keep, so it looks like City on a Hill will be worth keeping an eye out for when it premieres later this year.
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City on a Hill premieres Sunday, June 16 @9pm on Showtime.
