Melissa McCarthy, Clive Owen to Star in ‘JonBenet Ramsey’ Limited Series at Paramount+

A pair of Oscar nominees will lead a limited series about the murder of JonBenét Ramsey.

Melissa McCarthyandClive Owenwill star in the drama, currently titledJonBenét Ramsey, which has scored a series order atParamount+. The series comes fromYellowstoneproducers MTV Entertainment Studios and101 Studiosand showrunner Richard LaGravenese (Behind the Candelabra). Harrison Query and Tommy Wallach, who sold the project to MTV Entertainment Studios and 101 Studios, and LaGravenese are writing.

Anne Sewitsky (Presumed Innocent) has also signed on to direct four of the eight episodes in the series.

MTV Entertainment Studios and 101 Studiosbegan developing the projectearlier this year. McCarthy and Owen will play JonBenet’s parents, Patsy and John Ramsey, whose daughter, a 6-year-old child beauty pageant contestant, was found dead in their home in December 1996. The case (which is still unsolved) became a media sensation and brought intense scrutiny on the parents, who were for a time considered suspects but never charged.

“Melissa McCarthy and Clive Owen are an extraordinary duo to delve into this tragic story that has cast a long, haunting shadow over American culture for nearly three decades,” said Chris McCarthy, Paramount Global Co-CEO and president and CEO of Showtime & MTV Entertainment Studios.

JonBenét Ramseywill follow the family before and after the tragedy “as they go through the painful loss of a child while facing intense public scrutiny caused by a media frenzy that caused this case to captivate an entire nation,” the show’s description reads. “At the heart of the series, it is the story of Patsy and John Ramsey, exploring the unbreakable partnership of these two complex people — as husband and wife, as mother and father — who had committed themselves and their children to building the narrative of a perfect, privileged life only to have it destroyed one Christmas night in 1996.”

“JonBenét Ramsey continues to be one of the country’s most fascinating unsolved murders,” said Jeff Grossman, executive vp programming at Paramount+. “The incredible talent of Melissa McCarthy, Clive Owen and the creative team led by Richard LaGravenese will illuminate her story with the acuity and nuance it deserves.”

Added 101 Studios CEO David Glasser, “We have been working to bring this thought-provoking and bold project to audiences for some time now and could not be happier with the top notch team working in front of and behind the camera.”

McCarthy (Bridesmaids, Gilmore Girls) is coming off Jerry Seinfeld’s Netflix movieUnfrosted. The Emmy winner’s recent credits also include Peacock’sGenie, the 2023Little Mermaidand Hulu’sNine Perfect Strangers. She is repped by MGMT Entertainment and CAA.

Owen most recently starred in AMC’sMonsieur Spadeand FX’sA Murder at the End of the World. TheChildren of Menstar also played Bill Clinton inImpeachment: American Crime Story.

LaGravense, Query and Wallach are executive producing the series with Glasser, Ron Burkle, Bob Yari and David Hutkin of 101 Studios, McCarthy and Sewitsky.