Alexi Hawley’s Hostage Recovery Drama ‘The Envoy’ Lands At Hulu For Development

EXCLUSIVE: In a competitive situation, Hulu has landed hostage recovery drama series The Envoy from The Rookie and The Recruit creator Alexi Hawley and Lionsgate Television where he is under an overall deal. ABC Signature, a part of Disney TV Studios, has come on board to co-produce with Lionsgate.

Created by Hawley, The Envoy is inspired by journalist and producer Adam Ciralsky’s June 2024 Vanity Fair story about Roger Carstens and his team at the State Department who have brought home 70 American hostages over the last four years.

Lionsgate TV acquired the rights to the article shortly after it was published online May 29 for Hawley and Ciralsky, who executive produce the studio’s Netflix espionage series The Recruit together.

While in the marketplace, the pitch received an unexpected boost from the successful 24-person swap across multiple countries involving Wall Street Journal’s Evan Gershkovich, in which, as WSJ’s Aug. 2 story on the complex operation revealed, Carstens played a key role.

In a bidding situation between Netflix and Hulu, the project ended up at the Disney streamer.

The Envoy will follow one fictionalized hostage scenario per season. The article it is inspired by provides an in-depth look at the US government’s commitment to freeing hostages, as Ciralsky details a year spent with Carstens, the point man for freeing US detainees held by world figures like Vladimir Putin and Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro. Ciralsky witnessed negotiations, interviewed dozens of officials and was present for successful and unsuccessful hostage recovery missions.

“It’s an honor to create a show based on Adam’s riveting article, fictionalizing the high-stakes, exhaustive and emotional efforts to bring America’s hostages home,” Hawley said when The Envoy was announced as being in development at Lionsgate TV in June.

Hawley executive produces through his Perfectman Pictures. Ciralsky and Gene Klein (The Recruit, Suits, Suits: LA) executive produce under their P3 Media banner.

Hawley’s The Rookie, also produced by Lionsgate TV and ABC Signature, is headed into its seventh season at ABC; The Recruit is set to return for Season 2 on Netflix. P3’s upcoming feature doc Take No Prisoners focuses on Washington’s efforts to free Americans held hostage abroad.