Michael Shannon to Play George Jones in ‘George & Tammy’ Series

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The limited series George & Tammy about the life and marriage of country legends Tammy Wynette and George Jones has found their person to portray The Possum. It had been previously announced that award-winning actress Jessica Chastain would be playing Tammy, and originally it was supposed to be Josh Brolin in the role of George. But apparently scheduling conflicts got in the way, so two-time Academy Award nominee Michael Shannon has stepped in.

“Josh Brolin is still co-producing with Andrew Lazar, but due to his prior commitments he couldn’t take on this acting role due to scheduling,” said Georgette Jones back in August in a Facebook post. Georgette is the only offspring from the marriage of George and Tammy. It is her 2013 book The Three of Us: Growing Up with Tammy and George that the script and story for the series is drawn from.

George Jones and Tammy Wynette were married for six years between 1969 and 1975, but had a professional country music duet career for much longer. The relationship was both passionate and tempestuous, and will certainly make for quality drama, so much so the creators decided to extend it into a multi-part series from the original idea of a feature film. Filming is set to take place in Wilmington, North Carolina, and should be commencing any day now, if it hasn’t already started.

The 47-year-old Michael Shannon from Lexington, Kentucky is also a musician and songwriter, which might help him in trying to resurrect the spirit of No Show Jones. Known for being a versatile actor in both dramas and comedies, Shannon was nominated in 2008 for the Best Supporting Actor Oscar in his role in the movie Revolutionary Road, and in 2016 for Nocturnal Animals.

Also revealed by Georgette Jones recently is that the legendary T Bone Burnett will be handling much of the music for the film. It was T Bone’s work on soundtracks such as The Big Lebowski and O Brother Where Art Thou that put the producer on the map for many. T Bone was also the Executive Music Producer for the Johnny Cash biopic Walk The Line from 2005.

David Hutkin and Bob Yari of 101 Studios are also executive producers for the series with Josh Brolin. 101 is the same studio that is producing Paramount’s successful series Yellowstone. Abe Sylvia, who is best known for producing the popular Netflix series “Dead to Me” and Showtime series “Nurse Jackie,” is the creator of the series.

Spectrum Originals will air the series exclusively for nine months, and then it will be available later on Paramount and ViacomCBS for streaming. There is no official release date just yet.

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