In “The Consultant,” Christoph Waltz’s Regus Patoff is a pandemic-era corporate worker’s nightmare.
“For those who work remotely, you have one hour to get here, or you’ll be terminated,” he says in a trailer for the dark comedy-thriller series exclusively obtained by Variety.
The series explores the sinister relationship between boss and employee. When Patoff is hired as a consultant to improve the business at the app-based gaming company CompWare, employees experience new demands and challenges that put everything into question, including their lives. The cast also includes Nat Wolff as Craig, Brittany O’Grady as Elaine and Aimee Carrero as Patti.
The trailer reveals that Patoff’s hiring at CompWare comes after the bloody death of the CEO inside his office — and that his resume includes consulting for a company whose CEO died just two weeks after bringing Patoff onto his team.
“How are you enjoying the gaming industry?” a nervous Craig says to Patoff in the trailer during a casual conversation at a bar.
Not acknowledging the question, Patoff replies, “How many of these patrons do you think we could fight? I think I could fight four of them and you could subdue the remaining three,” before laughing.
“The Consultant” is based on Bentley Little’s 2015 novel of the same name. Tony Basgallop serves as creator and showrunner, and executive produces alongside pilot director Matt Shakman, Waltz, Steve Stark and Andrew Mittman. Kai Dolbashian produces. The series hails from MGM Television and Amazon Studios.
See the full trailer below.