Apple TV+ didn’t have to look very far to find the the stars of its latest series project.
The tech behemoth’s streaming outlet has greenlit a limited series called The Off Weeks, with Severance executive producer/director Ben Stiller and Jessica Chastain, who stars in Apple TV+’s forthcoming drama The Savant, set for the lead roles. Both will also serve as exec producers.
Alissa Nutting (Made for Love, Teenage Euthanasia) will serve as showrunner on The Off Weeks, with Michael Showalter (who developed the project through his Semi-Formal Productions) directing. Apple Studios and Wiip are producing the show.
The Off Weeks will follow a recently divorced professor, Gus Adler (Stiller), who struggles to hold things together during “on weeks” when he has custody of his kids. In his “off weeks,” he’s falling dangerously in love with Stella West (Chastain), a mysterious woman who puts Gus’ on-week obligations and off-week ambitions “on a fatal collision course,” per the show’s logline.
Along with Severance, Stiller is also directing and producing the documentary Stiller & Meara: Nothing Is Lost about his parents, comedy duo Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara, for Apple TV+. Along with The Savant, which premieres Sept. 26, Chastain is also set to star with Adam Driver in an art-world drama called The Dealer at the streamer.
Nutting and Showalter will executive produce The Off Weeks with Stiller and John Lesher of Red Hour; Chastain and Kelly Carmichael of Freckle Films; Jordana Mollick of Semi-Formal Productions; Paul Lee and Gabriel Fisher for Wiip; Peter Principato, Allen Fischer and Brian Steinberg of Artists First; and Dean Bakopoulos.
Chastain is repped by Mosaic, CAA, Imprint and Hansen Jacobson. Stiller is with WME, VIE, ID and Sloane Offer. Showalter and Semi-Formal Productions are repped by UTA, Artists First, Goodman Genow and 42 West. Nutting is repped by CAA and Artists First. Bakopoulos is with Literate Management, Paradigm and The Nord Group.
