Fans of true crime and crime dramas have had a packed year so far. Hulu’s Under The Banner of Heaven, starring Andrew Garfield, premiered in April, Apple TV+’s Black Bird premiered in July, and the highly-anticipated season two of Hulu’s Only Murders in The Building premiered in June. This genre is booming. Crime dramas have gained popularity, major awards, and glowing reviews. With the latest Alaska Daily, crime dramas are gaining primetime television slots.

ABC is throwing its hat in the crime drama ring with the upcoming show Alaska Daily. It is set to tell the story of a disgraced investigative journalist, missing and murdered indigenous women in small-town Alaska, and unveiling an uninterrupted threat of violence. While it is technically a fictional story, steps were taken to incorporate real-life stories and tie the show directly to the community it represents. This went as far as having associates of the Anchorage Daily News publication (the real-life version of the “Alaska Daily”) join the production as executive producers and contributors. There is an overall marked effort for Alaska Daily to be deeply entrenched in Anchorage not only for continuity but also because of the type of stories the show will tell.

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Missing indigenous women are at the forefront of the upcoming crime drama. The victims are all fictional, but the inspiration behind their stories is real. This show highlights the overwhelming amount of actual true crime stories about native women, a demographic that makes up a substantial portion of the missing and murdered cases in the United States and Canada. While this theme is not as widespread in mainstream movies and television, it is directly relevant to the Alaskan (and nearby Canadian) communities shown on screen.

Here’s what you can expect about the show.

Alaska Daily: The Plot

     20th Television

The show follows Hilary Swank in the role of Eileen Fitzgerald, a New York journalist that recently fell from grace. After leaving the Big Apple, she moved to Anchorage, Alaska, to get a “fresh start.” While living there, she takes a job at a small daily metro newspaper.

A first look at the series shows Eileen Fitzgerald becoming enthralled with a cold case. Specifically, she investigates the death of a woman who was abducted as a teenager. During Fitzgerald’s time in Anchorage, she realizes it’s not limited to just the first cold case. A concerning number of women have gone missing without an explanation. In the extended trailer, Fitzgerald is shown with a collection of missing posters on her wall as she makes the connection that these are, by and large, indigenous women. As soon as this is shown, there is a sharp jump-cut and voiceover saying, “No one’s going to do anything about it – not the cops, not the courts.”

The trailer shows Eileen working tirelessly with community members, ranging from coworkers at the newspaper to law enforcement to indigenous residents of Anchorage, to investigate. Her efforts in the investigation are in hopes of both fixing her destroyed career and providing answers to the haunting cases that begin to pile up.

From everything released so far, Alaska Daily seems to be a mixture of age-old classics and themes from recent releases. Hilary Swank strikes up a 2000s Erin Brockovich-esque determination in her performance as Eileen Fitzgerald. The rapport with her partner rivals that of HBO’s True Detective or Hulu’s Under The Banner of Heaven.

Alaska Daily: The Cast & Crew

Alongside Hillary Swank, Alaska Daily stars Jeff Perry (Inventing Anna, Scandal, Grey’s Anatomy) as Stanley Cornik, Matt Malloy (Armageddon, The Bounty Hunter, Outside In) as Bob Young, Meredith Holzman (Jungleland, Blow The Man Down) as Claire Muncy, breakout star Grace Dove (The Revenant, Kiri and The Girl) as Roselind “Roz” Friendly, and Pablo Castelblanco (Scream Queens, Room 104) as Gabriel Martin.

Alaska Daily was created and executive produced by Tom McCarthy. McCarthy is a three-time Oscar nominee and one-time Oscar winner for best original screenplay (Spotlight). Alaska Daily will follow his most recent project, Stillwater, another American crime drama starring Matt Damon.

McCarthy is joined by Peter Elkoff, the writer-producer for Fox’s The Resident. Alongside McCarthy, it is executive produced by Hilary Swank, Melissa Wells, Bert Salke, and Anchorage Daily News’ Kyle Hopkins and Ryan Binkley.

Release Date

     ABC

Alaska Daily will premiere after another possible Hilary Swank project. Its release will follow the September 9th, 2022, release of season 5 of Cobra Kai, a Netflix-original reboot of the classic Karate Kid films. In previous seasons, Cobra Kai brought in assorted characters from The Karate Kid and its sequels to connect the original films to the new series (and provide fan service!). However, Hilary Swank, the star of the fourth film in the Karate Kid series, has yet to make an appearance. The creators have teased the possibility of a cameo of Swank’s Julie Pierce in the upcoming season. Fans might see Swank in her 1994 role prior to her debut as Eileen Fitzgerald.

Fans can watch Alaska Daily on Thursday, October 6th, 2022, at 10 p.m. ET/PT on ABC. Episodes will be available on Hulu on the following day.