Paramount+ will produce a new streaming TV series based on the unsolved murder of Boulder, Colorado, 6-year-old JonBenét Ramsey — but it won’t be filmed in Colorado.
The limited series, which is being produced to mark the 30th anniversary of her killing, will star Melissa McCarthy as JonBenét’s mother, Patsy, and Clive Owen as her father, John. They were immediate suspects in the brutal murder of the child beauty queen on Dec. 25, 1996, when she was found dead in the basement of her Boulder home.
A long ransom note, and the still-unsolved nature of the case, continue to inspire lurid fascination in the entertainment world. The crime has inspired documentary and narrative shows such as 2016’s “Getting Away with Murder” and Netflix’s 2017 experiment “Casting JonBenét,” amid many others before that. That last show casts local actors from Boulder to “offer multiple perspectives on her 1996 murder as they vie to play roles in a dramatization of the case,” Netflix wrote.
The Paramount+ series will take the dramatization route.
“(The Series) follows the Ramsey family, before and after the tragedy as they go through the painful loss of a child while facing intense public scrutiny caused by a media frenzy that caused this case to captivate an entire nation,” according to a statement from Paramount+.
“At the heart of the series, it is the story of Patsy and John Ramsey – exploring the unbreakable partnership of these two complex people – as husband and wife, as mother and father – who had committed themselves and their children to building the narrative of a perfect, privileged life only to have it destroyed one Christmas night in 1996.”
The show will be produced by 101 Studios and MTV Entertainment Studios, with production beginning soon in Calgary, Canada, according to the studio.
“JonBenét Ramsey continues to be one of the country’s most fascinating unsolved murders,” said Jeff Grossman, executive vice president of programming at Paramount+. “The incredible talent of Melissa McCarthy, Clive Owen and the creative team led by (showrunner) Richard LaGravenese will illuminate her story with the acuity and nuance it deserves.”
McCarthy is primarily known as a comedian, but has also taken on dramatic roles.
There is no release date for the show.
