'Happy Face' Brings In The Kids And A Recurring David Harewood

 

The upcoming Paramount+ drama series Happy Face has found all of its series regulars and jonesed for its recurring talk show host and Melissa’s boss. The final series regulars found are Khiyla Aynne and Benjamin Mackey, while Supergirl alum David Harewood is racking in the ratings.

As one could surmise, Aynne and Mackey play Melissa (played by Annaleigh Ashford)’s kids with husband Ben, played by James Wolk. Specifically, Aynne plays Hazel, their secure and happy 15-year-old daughter who initially believes that her mother is off on a simple business trip. However, she soon starts suspecting that something dire is going on, beginning to investigate and uncover the shocking circumstances of her mother’s past. Mackey plays lively  9-year-old Max, who takes his stable upbringing for granted and doesn’t grow his older sister’s suspicions regarding mom’s sudden absence. He instead steadfastly believes she’s producing some sort of on-location segment for The Dr. Greg Show.

And yes, Harewood is portraying Dr. Greg, the beloved and handsome longtime host of his own eponymous daytime health talk show. Melissa’s a makeup artist for his show. It is through him that to her surprise and confusion her estranged father calls, unearthing her very secret past. It does trigger a meeting. See, Happy Face is inspired by the podcast by the same name from iHeartMedia and Melissa Moore, through her true story as chronicled in her autobiography Shattered Silence she wrote with M. Bridget Cook. As the story goes, Moore was 15 when she uncovered that her father, who is played by Dennis Quaid in the series, was a serial killer known as “Happy Face,” because he would draw smiley faces on evidence to brag about the horrors he committed. In adulthood she changed her name kept her secret as her father has been serving his life sentence in prison. The logline further describes “Melissa must find out if an innocent man is going to be put to death for a crime her father committed. Throughout, she discovers the impact her father had on his victims’ families and must face a reckoning of her own identity.”

Aynne most recently guest-starred in Apple TV+’s sci-fi anthology Circuit Breakers with previous credits including the Netflix-released film adaptation of 13: the Musical and the children’s horror-fantasy film Nightbooks, as well as UPtv’s Christmas on the Rocks. She also starred on the Netflix original series Ponysitters Club as Trish and reprised the role in two spin-off films. Mackey recurred in Apple TV+’s The Morning Show, with real-life brother Judah. He has also appeared in Starz’s Gaslit starring Julia Roberts and Sean Penn, ABC’s Home Economics and recurred on Danger Force. He has done three episodes of the Apple TV+ animated series Pretzel and the Puppies, among others.

In addition to starring as J’onn J’onnz the Martian Manhunter for six seasons of Supergirl, becoming one of Kara’s most trusted allies, Harewood is probably best known for starring as David Estes on Showtime’s Homeland with Claire Danes and Damian Lewis. His other credits include the Emmy-nominated no-longer-a-miniseries The Night Manager starring Tom Hiddleston, he played Joshua Naismith on Doctor Who in David Tennant’s final adventure as the Tenth Doctor, the two-parter “The End of Time”.

Set to premiere on Paramount+ in 2025, Happy Face’s first season will be 8 episodes, is showrun by Jennifer Cacicio who executive produces alongside Robert and Michelle King, Liz Glotzer, Melissa Moore, Conal Byrne, Will Pearson, first episode director Michael Showalter and Jordana Mollick. It is produced by CBS Studios in association with the Kings’ company King Size Productions, iHeartPodcasts and Semi-Formal Productions.

Source: Deadline