Close your eyes and imagine a divorced man. Does Jesse Eisenberg come to mind? Well, he may soon enough. The actor stars in the upcoming divorce saga Fleishman Is in Trouble, based on journalist Taffy Brodesser-Akner’s debut novel of the same name. Adapted and produced by Brodesser-Akner, the FX limited series has quite a lot to live up to: The best-selling book was selected for the longlist for the Women’s Prize for Fiction and received some positive reviews for its depiction of online dating, gender roles, and marriage. Eisenberg’s got a lot on his shoulders with this one, just like his character that’s weathering a midlife crisis and the dredges of Tinder. The trailer teases a show that is about a whole lot: “Everything. Life, and marriage, and about how young love can become old resentment, and money, and dissatisfaction, and jealousy, ambition, career, parenting, nostalgia, and lifelong friendship.” With all that on the docket, here’s the casting, plot, and release information to know ahead of the show’s premiere on Hulu November 17.
We get it, Jesse Eisenberg stars. Who else is in the cast?
Okay, so alongside Eisenberg’s Toby Fleishman, Inside Job’s Lizzy Caplan plays his old friend Libby, who does double duty as the show’s narrator. Triple Emmy-winner Claire Danes — who got two statues for Homeland alone — is Fleishman’s former wife, Rachel. She’s the one who left Toby in the first place, though the divorce sometimes makes it tough for her to grapple with her new identity. The OC’s Adam Brody blasts back into Toby’s life as Seth, another one of his old friends who’s just returned to town. Ted Mosby — err, How I Met Your Mother’s Josh Radnor — also stars alongside Mr. Robot’s Christian Slater. Meara Mahoney Gross, Maxim Swinton, Michael Gaston, Ralph Adriel, Shi Ne Nielson, and Joy Suprano round out the cast.
Can we get some plot details?
There’s more to it than divorce (though Scenes From a Marriage–type flicks are always welcome). Part midlife-crisis story, part Kramer vs. Kramer, the show finds Toby stuck with two young children after estranged wife Rachel suddenly disappears with no indication of where she is or when she’ll return. Rachel going AWOL wasn’t in Toby’s summer plans: He’d hoped to spend the summer sleeping around with Hinge dates to live the life of promiscuity that escaped him during medical school and his marriage. Complicating matters at home are a big promotion at the hospital and the return of old friends. Still, the big question remains: Why, oh why, did Rachel leave him? The divorced man’s dilemma.
When’s the release date?
Ready your Google calendars: November 17. Fleishman wrapped on June 21, 2022, so the show’s creator shared some obligatory BTS photos on Twitter to thank the cast and crew. “Thank you to everyone who cheered for this, checked in, sent pics when we were shooting on your street and for everyone who visited,” she wrote. “This was an extraordinary experience and I can’t wait for you to see it this fall.”
This post has been updated.
