Viola Davis to lead new streaming thriller from James Bond veteran

Paramount+ has gone on a bit of a spending spree lately, hoovering up big names left and right. We’re talking Nicole Kidman, Anne Hathaway, Kenneth Branagh, Jeremy Strong—not exactly scraping the barrel. But their newest catch actually trumps the lot of them when it comes to awards and pedigree: Viola Davis is now leading their next major original, a thriller called Ascent.

We won the lottery with this one, Davis said in a statement.

The gist? It’s a character-driven thriller with Davis as Catriona Vail, a top-tier corporate fixer operating in the ultra-sleek—let’s be honest, slightly sinister—world of global crisis management. The official blurb hints at family drama too, with her estranged daughter getting dragged into danger, giving Davis more dramatic meat to chew on than your standard corporate intrigue series.

The John Logan Factor

Now, don’t get too distracted by the ‘corporate fixer’ angle, because here’s where things get genuinely interesting for film and TV nerds: the writer and creator is John Logan. That’s a three-time Oscar nominee for Gladiator, The Aviator, and Hugo. But if you want his most bankable credit, Logan co-wrote Skyfall—yeah, that Skyfall, aka the only James Bond film to crack $1.1 billion at the global box office, and the rare Bond instalment that most critics and the average punter both agree is something special.

Skyfall, which Logan co-wrote, landed at 92% on Rotten Tomatoes, scored two Oscars, and is still the franchise's all-time box office champ.

Logan’s TV work actually lines up pretty nicely with the Ascent concept, in a roundabout way: he created Penny Dreadful (gothic mayhem, Eva Green at her best) and the spinoff Penny Dreadful: City of Angels, which only ran a single season. Michael Aguilar, one of the executive producers from City of Angels, is following Logan over to Ascent as well, just to keep the band together. Worth noting too: Logan wrote the Michael Jackson biopic Michael, which turned into Lionsgate's biggest box office hit ever—so whatever genre, he knows how to deliver the numbers.

Where’s the Rest of the Cast?

As of now, it’s a one-woman show. Viola Davis is the only name on the cast list for Ascent—no word yet on who’ll play her daughter, or anyone else, really. Filming isn’t even slated to begin until 2027, with everything happening out of Paramount's Los Angeles lot, so the actual premiere is almost certainly landing in 2028. (Good luck remembering the title in two years.) The streaming chief at Paramount+, Jane Wiseman, has called Ascent ‘high-stakes television at its best,’ which is exactly the kind of thing they all say before even rolling camera. Still, with Davis and Logan both on board, it has a better shot than most of being true.

• Viola Davis: Stars as Catriona Vail, executive produces via JuVee Productions with husband Julius Tennon
• John Logan: Creator and writer, Oscar-nominated and Skyfall screenwriter
• Michael Aguilar: Executive producer, previously worked with Logan on Penny Dreadful: City of Angels
• No other cast announced; filming begins in 2027
• Premiering on Paramount+, probably in 2028

Davis hasn’t led a full TV series since The First Lady in 2022, and before that, the seven seasons of How to Get Away With Murder—where she famously became the first black woman to win the Emmy for lead actress in a drama. In the meantime, she’s turned out film roles like G20 for Prime Video and The Woman King, plus quietly building a development slate at JuVee, with projects like an adaptation of The Untamed: A Sinner’s Prayer graphic novel percolating in the background.