For Silicon Valley in 2026, is it a time of Renaissance or a return to the Dark Ages? AMC Network‘s “The Audacity” aims to probe all the power, drama and influence that exudes from San Jose and environs.
Stars Billy Magnussen and Simon Helberg took part in Variety‘s annual summit at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas on Jan. 7 to preview the dramedy set to bow April 12 on AMC Network. Created by Jonathan Glatzer, an alum of AMC’s “Better Call Saul” and HBO’s “Succession,” “The Audacity” revolves around an aspiring tech CEO character played by Magnussen and a successful but deeply alienated founder and inventor played Helberg.
Dan McDermott, chief content officer for AMC Networks and president of AMC Studios, and “The Audacity” executive producer Gina Mingacci also took part in the session that is featured on today’s episode of Variety‘s “Strictly Business” podcast.
“This show is a throwback in a lot of ways to the origins of AMC storytelling with shows like ‘Mad Men’ and ‘Breaking Bad,’ ‘Better Call Saul,’ ‘Killing Eve,’ ” McDermott explains. “We focus on three primary things: One is lightning-in-a-bottle characters that can break out and become part of the cultural conversation. We can put them on a billboard and everybody will know that’s Duncan [Magnussen’s character] from ‘The Audacity.’ The second is that they take the audience into a unique world or subculture that we either haven’t seen portrayed or haven’t seen portrayed in this particular way. And the third is we want to be entertaining and fun, of course, but we also want our shows to have a real cultural meaning and ballast and be about something important.”
Magnussen’s enthusiasm for his role as the leader of an upstart data-mining firm is palpable. He was immediately drawn to the subject and bowled over by Glatzer’s scripts.
“There’s times in history where there’s a Renaissance and Silicon Valley is one of those times in our modern era which is defining humanity,” he observed. “What better place to make a dark comedy than in that place that develops our society at this point. For me, 20 years in this industry, you see the script that Jonathan Glatzer wrote and you’re just like, ‘Damn, this is fantastic.’ “
‘Strictly Business’ host Cynthia Littleton with ‘The Audacity’ stars Simon Helberg and Billy Magnussen, AMC Networks’ Dan McDermott and executive producer Gina Mingacci (Photo by Brenton Ho/Variety via Getty Images)
Variety via Getty Images
Helberg was pressed on whether he did a lot of research on Big Tech and AI to bring his character to life. “I did not have to research to loneliness,” he quipped.
“My character, Martin, like many people probably in the Valley is a bit of a maladjusted genius. Went to Stanford at 15, made a chunk of money early on in tech, and now he spends every waking minute locked in his garage with an AI companion that he’s developing to help alienated teenagers,” Helberg explained. “But he has his own alienated teenager daughter who he completely neglects and all the other people around him too. He’s a bit of a recluse. And there’s loneliness at the heart of all the characters, and they’re all trying to connect, and they’re trying to connect through technology, which has some pitfalls.”
“The Audacity” is a big swing for AMC and the producers at a time when it’s extremely hard to launch wholly original concepts amid the crush of IP-based material that swirls around linear and streaming TV. Mingacci, a former AMC executive who executive produced the BBC America/AMC drama “Killing Eve,” said that high hurdle is all the more reason to pursue fresh and distinctive projects.
“It actually was the same challenge as ‘Killing Eve,’ which is, we do not have as much money as everyone else has, not as much time to make it, but you want to be here. You want to be playing here and hopefully we’ve delivered on that,” Mingacci said. “There is no one better than AMC to make morally complex characters come to life. And those are very specific shows that are hard to get made right now.”
The episode also features highlights of Variety‘s CES conversation with Anthony Wood, founder, chairman and CEO of Roku.
(Pictured top: ‘The Audacity’ stars Simon Helberg and Billy Magnussen with AMC Networks’ Dan McDermott)
