Jon Hamm's American Hostage Meets Its Rival at Toronto

Same city. Same year. Same hostage crisis.

The MGM+ limited anthology series American Hostage, starring and executive produced by Jon Hamm, premiered Sept. 12 at Toronto, according to Variety. Gus Van Sant's thriller Dead Man's Wire is about the same 1977 Indianapolis hostage crisis and premiered Sept. 7 at Toronto the prior year, according to the same report.

American Hostage is an adaptation of the hit podcast of the same name, according to TIFF. The 2022 podcast featured Hamm, according to Variety. In this screen version, Hamm plays Fred Heckman, a local Indianapolis radio reporter thrust into a high-stakes situation when a man takes bank employees hostage to be interviewed live on air.

The show is a limited series, meaning it is designed to tell one complete story in a single season. It was included in TIFF's 2026 Primetime lineup alongside Carrie and Crystal Lake (Friday the 13th). The 2026 Toronto festival is its 51st edition, according to Deadline.

It premieres on MGM+ on Sunday, September 20 with two episodes. It will play exclusively on MGM+ in the United States and on Crave in Canada, according to Deadline.

Van Sant's rival take has deep roots in the same case. The directors of the 2018 documentary Dead Man's Line served as consultants on Dead Man's Wire, according to Variety. That kind of overlap is common in true crime. About 61% of true crime podcast listeners also watch true crime television shows or films, according to Edison Research vice president Megan Lazovick.

Toronto has more than one traffic jam this year. Netflix released the four-part March docuseries Dynasty: The Murdochs, according to Variety. Danny Boyle's TIFF Murdoch family biopic Ink, adapted from James Graham's 2017 play, was picked up by Netflix.

Old films are riding new releases too. Spider-Man: Brand New Day debuted July 31. In the week before it opened, 26 million to 32 million hours of Spider-Man back-catalogue, older films in the franchise, were watched across major platforms, according to Showlabs data from Ampere/PlumResearch. In the week after it debuted, that viewing rose to 98 million hours.

Mount Everest is next. Apple Original Films' shot-on-location drama Tenzing is set for theatres Oct. 9, while National Geographic Documentary Films' Everest: The Other Side releases Oct. 30. Boardwalk Pictures brought Cheyenne, a documentary about cowgirl bronco riders, to TIFF on Sept. 13.

What makes this stand out is the timing. For fans, this means a choice, not a wait: two versions of one radio-station standoff, two Murdoch stories, two Everest climbs, all arriving weeks apart.