Emmy nominee and star of The White Lotus, Jake Lacy, presented the teaser for a new Peacock limited series today at the awards show. The horrifying real tale of A Friend of the Family, with Lacy as the main character, is about a young woman who was kidnapped and molested on several occasions by a guy who was never suspected. Initial airings of the series are scheduled to begin in the first week of October. The backdrop of A Friend of the Family is the 1970s, a time when it was even more challenging to recognise predators, as seen in the film’s teaser trailer.
Robert Berchtold (Lacy) took advantage of this by becoming close with the Broberg family to the point that the parents felt comfortable leaving their children in his care. Jan Broberg, portrayed by Hendrix Yancey (Stranger Things) and McKenna Grace (The Handmaid’s Tale), is the series producer. She issued a statement detailing the show’s goals and mentioning many elements of the tale. This book describes the narrative of my family and mine. Ours was a close-knit, trustworthy, well-informed family. We weren’t reckless or dimwitted.
How therefore could anything like this occur in our close-knit community, where everybody knows each other? When it comes down to it, most predators are really individuals we know; they are able to gain our trust, form close relationships with us, and mentally divide us from our loved ones. […] You will feel like screaming, crying, and yelling at the end of this narrative. Good. The [creators of the series] have effectively conveyed the underlying themes of manipulation of nice people and their children. Many people may relate to our tale because they or someone they know has been a victim of domestic violence or abuse. Because secrets thrive in the shadows and the quiet, I pray that our tale will spark meaningful dialogue.
Nick Antosca (The Act) is the creator, executive producer, showrunner, and writer for A Friend of the Family. Officially, Antosca claims he, like the rest of us, has wondered “how could these parents have allowed this to happen?” The more he spoke with the family, however, the more he believed they had been duped by a skilled manipulator, as he shows. The showrunner claims the series is “more relatable than it initially looks,” despite being a horror thriller. From a narrative perspective, Antosca explained that the thriller portion of the series is equal parts obsessive relationships, family turmoil, and a “nightmarish” coming-of-age story. The cast also includes Anna Paquin (True Blood), Colin Hanks (The Offer), and Lio Tipton in addition to Lacy. On October 6th, Peacock will air the first three episodes of their new show, A Friend of the Family. Six more episodes will be released every week.
Synopsis
The terrifying events depicted in “A Friend of the Family” actually happened to the Broberg family, whose daughter Jan was abducted several times over the course of a few years by a seductive and infatuated “friend.” The Brobergs were blindsided by their neighbour’s cunning methods, which she used to take advantage of their weaknesses, push them apart, and turn their daughter against them. Their narrative tells of the ways in which their lives were changed irrevocably and how they managed to persevere.