Armie Hammer will no longer star in the upcoming Paramount Plus series “The Offer,” which tells the behind the scenes story of the making of “The Godfather,” Variety has learned from sources.
It was announced in early December that Hammer was attached to lead the show in the role of Al Ruddy, who produced “The Godfather” back in 1972. The 10-episode series details Ruddy’s experience working on the iconic film. The search is now on for a new series lead.
Reps for Hammer and Paramount did not immediately respond to Variety‘s request for comment. This post will be updated should they respond.
News of Hammer’s exit from the show comes weeks after he also dropped out of the romcom “Shotgun Wedding,” in which he was to star opposite Jennifer Lopez, after a series of unverified Instagram direct messages supposedly written by Hammer leaked online. The messages described graphic sexual fantasies, including cannibalism.
Hammer previously issued a statement on the controversy, saying he would not respond to “bulls— claims,” further describing the social media uproar around the messages as “vicious and spurious online attacks against [him].”
“The Offer” was one of several high-profile projects announced when ViacomCBS revealed they were rebranding the streaming service CBS All Access to Paramount Plus back in September. Others included the spy drama “Lioness” from Oscar winner Taylor Sheridan as well as a reboot of the music docuseries “Behind the Music.”
Michael Tolkin is writing and executive producing “The Offer,” with Ruddy, Nikki Toscano and Leslie Grief also executive producing. Paramount Television Studios will produce.
With the rebrand and the addition of library shows from BET, CBS, Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon and more content from the Paramount Pictures vault, Paramount Plus will offer up about 30,000 episodes and films. BET, Comedy Central and other ViacomCBS imprints will also produce original series for Paramount Plus.