Anna Kendrick (Woman of the Hour, Pitch Perfect) and J.K. Simmons (Whiplash, Westies) will star in a geo-political thriller series, Embassy.
AGC Television, the television production and distribution arm of Stuart Ford’s AGC Studios, is teaming up with Ascendant Fox and Turbine Studios to make the six-part show, which will be presented to buyers for the first time at MIPCOM next week.
AGC is financing the project and will distribute internationally.
Here’s the plot, per the synopsis: “When armed mercenaries storm the U.S. Embassy in London, Layla (Kendrick), a sharp and resourceful American diplomat, faces an impossible choice: protect the U.S. Ambassador (Simmons) or follow his orders to exfiltrate a high value asset being held at the embassy. As a larger conspiracy unfolds, Layla must rely on her instincts—and the reluctant help of her ex-fiancé, a British SAS soldier—in the tense hours before extraction.”
The series is created and written by Rom Lotan and directed by John Strickland (Bodyguard, Line of Duty). They are both executive producers alongside Ascendant Fox’s Hester Ruoff, Bart Ruspoli and Matt Mitchell, Turbine’s Daniel Hetzer, Jakob Neuhausser, Justin Thomson and David Tanner, and AGC’s Ford, Lourdes Diaz and Miguel A. Palos Jr.
Production is planned to begin in February 2026 in London and Cologne, where UK-based Turbine has an office.
The Oscar-nominated Kendrick is set to star opposite Seth Rogan in the comedy Babies, which is written and directed by Lauren Miller Rogan and filming in Los Angeles this November. She can next be seen opposite Adam Driver and Daniel Kaluuya in Chris Rock’s untitled directorial debut feature film for A24. Her credits include Up in the Air, Alice, Darling, and A Simple Favor, and the Pitch Perfect and Trolls franchises. Her production company, Let’s Go Againm has credits including the female-centric Love Life for HBO, Netflix’s sci-fi thriller Stowaway, and Lionsgate’s Alice, Darling.
Academy Award winner Simmons credits include Whiplash, which earned him his Oscar in 2015. He also received an Academy Award nomination for Being the Ricardos in 2021, and has more recently appeared in Red One, The Union, The Accountant 2 and Invincible Season 3 among other credits. He will next be seen in The Westies, The Prince, Reyjavik and Heart of the Beast.
Lotan is a former intelligence officer, who worked at the intersection of tradecraft and diplomacy, working globally across defense agencies and embassies. He sold his first pilot to 20th Television Studios and is currently developing projects with MGM Studios and Chris Brancato; and Lindsey Shockley and hip-hop artist 24KGoldn among others.
Strickland worked on Bodyguard, the hit BBC drama starring Richard Madden, and directed episodes of the Line of Duty, Bodies and period drama Rebel Heart. He also directed The Flight Attendant for HBO Max, Big Love for HBO and Strike Back for Sky, and is an executive producer and director on two seasons of eco thriller The Rig for Prime Video.
Kendrick is repped by CAA, Range Media Partners, and attorney Todd Rubenstein; Simmons is repped by Gersh; Lotan is repped by Independent Artist Group, Writ Large and Lichter, Grossman, Nichols, Feldman, Rogal, Shikora & Clark; Strickland is repped by Paradigm Talent Agency, Independent Talent Group and Lighthouse Entertainment.
The deal for Embassy was negotiated by Sam Williams for Ascendant Fox, Matthias Braun for Turbine Studios, and Conor McElroy for AGC.
