Paramount+ Orders Viola Davis Corporate Fixer Thriller ‘Ascent’

Paramount+ is getting into business with Viola Davis. The streamer has greenlit Ascent, a thriller about a corporate fixer starring and executive produced by the Oscar winner, The Hollywood Reporter has learned. Davis will play Catriona Vail, a problem-solver for billion-dollar corporate clients, who must deploy her damage control and crisis skills when her estranged daughter comes into harm’s way. John Logan, the Skyfall and Michael screenwriter who also created the Showtime series Penny Dreadful, created the series and will serve as showrunner. Alongside Davis, Michael Aguilar and Julius Tennon will executive produce. “I am overwhelmingly excited about this journey with the great John Logan. We won the lottery with this one,” Davis said in a statement. “Work in which both story and character are bold, awe inspiring and deeply unique is why I became an artist. We at JuVee are deeply grateful to John Logan, Michael Aguilar, and Paramount. We are ready to create magic!” Paramount Television Studios is producing Ascent, which is set to shoot in L.A. at the Paramount studio lot in 2027. Added Paramount+ head of originals Jane Wiseman in a statement, “Viola Davis doesn’t just take on roles; she transforms them. Catriona Vail is an incredibly complex character and Viola is exactly the generational talent to bring her to life.” She continued, “With John Logan and Michael Aguilar behind the camera, Ascent is high-stakes television at its best.” The greenlight is one of several from Paramount+ under Wiseman in the last few months. The streamer recently ordered a sequel to the ’90s cult classic Clueless, a Scottish family drama called Laird and the true crime drama Fear Not, among others. “We are honored to support the vision of our exceptional creative partners: John Logan, Michael Aguilar, and Viola Davis,” Paramount Television Studios president Matt Thunell said in a statement. “We celebrate bold, original ideas, and the icing on the cake is being able to shoot Ascent here at home on the Paramount Lot in Los Angeles.”