There are many intriguing things about the trailer for The Regime, a limited serious from Succession and The Menu writer Will Tracy, and one of them is that it seems to be set in a made-up country. Kate Winslet plays the all-powerful Chancellor, and she wishes to show “America and the world” what her country is worth, but… what is this place? The guards wear fancy outfits and the palatial spaces are, well, palatial, but beyond that, very little makes sense—in a very appealing way.
There are hints of The Great here, with the drama and politics and big, messy personalities; there are also hints of Tracy’s previous projects, and maybe a little bit of Armando Iannucci DNA—though this seems a bit less overtly biting and funny. (Though I can actually imagine Hugh Grant doing a little “Fuckety-bye” action.) The synopsis is anything but revealing: “The Regime tells the story of one year within the walls of the palace of a modern European regime as it begins to unravel.”
From the trailer, it seems that Winslet’s Chancellor hand-picks a nobody soldier (Mattias Schoenaerts) to be her right-hand man, and he then proceeds to step all over everyone else in the immediate vicinity. The rest of the cast includes Guillaume Gallienne, Andrea Riseborough, and Martha Plimpton.
Tracy is writer, showrunner, and one of the executive producers; the series’ six episodes are directed by Stephen Frears (The Queen) and Jessica Hobbs (The Crown). (IMDb also credits Gary Shteyngart as one of the writers.)
The Regime begins on HBO and Max on March 3, 2024.
