The true events that inspired the upcoming TNT drama I Am the Night will be turned into a companion podcast.
The cable network is partnering with Cadence13 to release the eight-part podcast Root of Evil: The True Story of the Hodel Family and the Black Dahlia, which will feature interviews with the real people impacted by the Black Dahlia murder. I Am the Night is slated to premiere Jan. 28 on TNT, while Root of Evil is set to debut Feb. 13 on Apple Podcasts and other podcasting platforms.
From director Patty Jenkins and writer Sam Sheridan, I Am the Night tells the story of Fauna Hodel (India Eisley), a teenage girl given up at birth who grows up in Nevada. As she begins to investigate the secrets of her past, Hodel teams with a reporter (Chris Pine) and together they follow a trail that lead them to Los Angeles doctor George Hodel (Jefferson Mays).
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The real-life daughters of Hodel, Yvette Gentile and Rasha Pecoraro, will host Root of Evil, telling their family history through interviews with other family members. The podcast is executive produced by Cadence13’s Zak Levitt.
“Root of Evil will satisfy as a stand-alone piece of suspenseful entertainment and, for those who both watch and listen, also provide a whole new level of real-life, nail-biting mystery,” TNT chief marketing officer Michael Engleman said Monday in a statement.
Added Levitt: “This is a story more than 70 years in the making. The Black Dahlia has generated incredible interest and attention through the years, but nothing has gotten to the heart of the incredibly painful, and ultimately triumphant story of the family that has had to carry the Hodel name — a name synonymous with the most brutal unsolved murder in American history. Through fresh interviews with the Hodel family, and a trove of never-before-heard archival audio, we hope Root of Evil will be the most three-dimensional Black Dahlia story yet.”
