''Fortunate Son'' is a Canadian espionage drama television series, which premiered January 8, 2020 on

CBC Television CBC Television (also known as CBC TV) is a Canadian English-language broadcast television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcaster. The network began operations on September 6, 1952. Its French-l ...

.Eric Volmers
"Stars of Calgary-shot period drama Fortunate Son see political parallels between then and now"
''

Calgary Herald The ''Calgary Herald'' is a daily newspaper published in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Publication began in 1883 as ''The Calgary Herald, Mining and Ranche Advocate, and General Advertiser''. It is owned by the Postmedia Network. History ''The ...

'', January 3, 2020. The show is loosely based on the experiences of Mary Cox, the mother of co-executive producer Tom Cox, who helped American

draft dodgers Draft evasion is any successful attempt to elude a government-imposed obligation to serve in the military forces of one's nation. Sometimes draft evasion involves refusing to comply with the military draft laws of one's nation. Illegal draft ev ...

cross the border into Canada during the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

.David Bell
"Fortunate Son brings complex draft-dodging drama to southern Alberta filming locations"

CBC News CBC News is a division of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the news gathering and production of news programs on the corporation's English-language operations, namely CBC Television, CBC Radio, CBC News Network, and CBC.ca. ...

Calgary, August 16, 2019. The show takes its name from the 1969

Creedence Clearwater Revival Creedence Clearwater Revival, also referred to as Creedence and CCR, was an American rock band formed in El Cerrito, California. The band initially consisted of lead vocalist, lead guitarist, and primary songwriter John Fogerty; his brother, ...

protest song "

Fortunate Son "Fortunate Son" is a song by the American rock band Creedence Clearwater Revival released on their fourth studio album, ''Willy and the Poor Boys'' in November 1969. It was previously released as a single, together with "Down on the Corner", in ...

Premise

Set in 1968, the show centres on Ruby Howard, an American expatriate living in

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

with her family involved in antiwar activism who is asked to help troubled American Travis Hunter cross the border into Canada in order to dodge the Vietnam War draft. Meanwhile CIA handler Vern Lang is setting up a complex operation in order to infiltrate the peace movements on both the American and Canadian sides of the border in an effort to stop draft evasion.

Cast

Kari Matchett Kari Matchett is a Canadian actress. She is known for her roles as Colleen Blessed on ''Power Play (1998 TV series), Power Play'', as Joan Campbell on ''Covert Affairs'' and as Kate Filmore in the science fiction movie ''Cube 2: Hypercube''. Sh ...

as Ruby Howard, an American expat antiwar activist *

Stephen Moyer Stephen Moyer (born Stephen John Emery; 11 October 1969) is an English film and television actor who is best known as vampire Bill Compton in the HBO series ''True Blood''. His first television role was in 1993 as Philip Masefield in the TV ad ...

as Vern Lang, a CIA handler *Darren Mann as Travis Hunter, an American draft-dodger * Rick Roberts as Ted, Ruby's husband *

Kacey Rohl Kacey Rohl (born August 6, 1991) is a Canadian actress. She is known for playing Sterling Fitch in the television crime drama '' The Killing'', Prudence in the 2011 dark fantasy film ''Red Riding Hood'', and Abigail Hobbs in the television drama ...

as Ellen, Ruby's daughter *Alex Nachi as Ralph, Ruby's son * Patrick Gallagher *

Ty Olsson Ty Olsson (born January 28, 1974) is a Canadian actor. He is known for playing Benny Lafitte in ''Supernatural'', real-life 9/11 victim Mark Bingham in the A&E television film '' Flight 93'', and Ord in the PBS Kids animated children's series '' ...

* Zoé De Grand Maison

Production

The show was co-produced with Lark Productions in Vancouver, which is backed by NBCUniversal, and Seven24Films, to be aired on the CBC. Executive producers included Wreggitt, Tom Cox, Jordy Randall and Erin Haskett, with Brian Dennis producing. Stefan Schwartz and Ken Girotti directed. Andrew Wreggit was executive producer and showrunner, also stating the show's inspiration came from the childhood of Tom Cox and helping draft dodgers cross the American border in the late 1960s. The drama is "inspired" by a true story. In the story, Ruby Howard is loosely based on Mary Cox, the mother of Tom Cox, a producer at Seven24 Films. Cox stressed the TV series was fictional. Cox's family lived in California in the mid-1960s, and when his brother turned 18 in 1965, their mother decided to move the family to Canada. Cox has related that a CIA operative was planted in his family to spy on his parents for their activism. Moyer and Matchett were announced as co-stars in July 2019. It filmed some locations in southern Alberta. In July 2019, the production took over a main street in

Drumheller Drumheller is a town on the Red Deer River in the badlands of Central Alberta, east-central Alberta, Canada. It is northeast of Calgary and south of Stettler, Alberta, Stettler. The Drumheller portion of the Red Deer River valley, often ref ...

during its first days of the shoot, setting up vintage cars and extras with 1960s fashion. Drumheller, Tsuu T’ina reserve,

Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...

and

High River High River is a town within the Calgary Metropolitan Region of Alberta, Canada. It is approximately south of Calgary, at the junction of Alberta Highways 2 and 23. High River had a population of 14,324 in 2021. History The community take ...

were used as replacement locations for British Columbia. The soundtrack includes music by bands such as

Episodes

References

External links

* {{CBC Television Shows (current and upcoming) CBC Television original programming 2020 Canadian television series debuts 2020s Canadian drama television series Television series by Universal Television Television shows set in British Columbia Television shows filmed in Calgary Vietnam War in popular culture