Paramount+‘s legal thriller Discretion already has two A-list stars in Nicole Kidman and Elle Fanning. The series has now lined up a big-name director too.
Matt Shakman (Fantastic Four: First Steps, WandaVision) has signed on to direct the first four episodes of the series from A24. The Emmy nominee will also be an executive producer of Discretion.
Paramount+ landed Discretion in October 2025 with a straight-to-series order following a bidding war for the project, which is based on a short story by Chandler Baker. The drama was the first big series greenlight for Paramount direct-to-consumer chief Cindy Holland, who formally joined the company after the Skydance acquisition.
Discretion stars Fanning as Lenny, a summer associate at a big law firm in Dallas who “uncovers a web of NDAs masking a dark truth,” the show’s logline reads. “When she realizes she signed the same agreement, her discoveries put her in the crosshairs of the firm’s most powerful female partner, Sharon (Kidman) — upending their mentor-protégé dynamic and raising the question: Who gets to keep secrets, and at what cost?”
Shakman and Fanning previously worked together on The Great at Hulu: He directed that show’s pilot, earning his first of three career Emmy nominations.
Baker is writing and executive producing Discretion. Also exec producing are Susannah Grant (Unbelievable, Erin Brockovich); Elle Fanning, Dakota Fanning and Brittany Kahan Ward of Lewellen Pictures; Kidman and Per Saari for Blossom Films; Jordan Cerf of Linden Entertainment; Joe Hipps of A24-based Cut To; and Shakman.
Shakman has a long, eclectic list of TV directing credits that includes episodes Succession, Game of Thrones, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia and Mad Men, among others. He was also Emmy-nominated for directing WandaVision and shared in the Marvel/Disney+ show’s 2021 nod for best limited or anthology series. He recently helmed the pilot and finale for Apple TV’s upcoming Wild Things, starring Jude Law and Andrew Garfield. On deck for Shakman is a new Planet of the Apes movie for 20th Century Studios, re-teaming with Fantastic Four: First Steps co-writer Josh Friedman.
