Katherine Waterston Joins Jeremy Strong in Paramount+ Drama The Best of Us
Katherine Waterston will star opposite Jeremy Strong in The Best of Us, Paramount+'s six-episode drama about the fight for sick 9/11 first responders. Deadline reported the casting on 13 October 2026. The run is six episodes.
Opposite is trade language for co-lead. Waterston is the female lead to Strong's male lead. The show is a limited series, meaning it is built to tell one complete story in that set run and then end. It will stream on Paramount+, the subscription streaming service from Paramount.
Waterston will play Amy Smith. Amy is a lawyer by profession. She is also the soon-to-be ex-wife of Jason Smith, the character played by Strong. That marriage is ending but not yet legally over when the story meets them.
Strong leads the cast as Jason Smith. Jason is a class action lawyer, meaning he acts for a large group bringing the same claim together rather than for a single client. His case is the engine of the series. His home life with Amy runs alongside it.
The Best of Us is inspired by the campaign that won justice for 9/11's ailing heroes. In screen terms, it dramatises a legal fight that secured almost $1 billion in compensation. That money went to first responders who fell ill after the 2001 attacks. Ill here covers the serious health conditions linked to work at and around the attack sites.
Two more key roles are set around that central pair. Barry Pepper plays Coach, a former officer with the New York Police Department and a 9/11 first responder. John Slattery plays James Leavitt, a defence lawyer, meaning he acts for the other side against Jason's claim. One character has lived the harm, the other argues against paying for it.
The series comes from writers Tobias Lindholm and Frank Pugliese. The pair are credited as the creators of the scripts and story. It is produced by Paramount Television Studios and Sister, the two production companies behind the show. Studios organise the shoot, hire the crew and deliver the finished episodes to the streaming service.
What makes this stand out is the shape of the cast. Two lawyers on opposite sides of the courtroom, a first responder living with the consequences, and a couple splitting up at home. For viewers, this means the courtroom story also plays out as a family story.
