''The Comey Rule'' is an American
political drama
A political drama can describe a play, film or TV program that has a political component, whether reflecting the author's political opinion, or describing a politician or series of political events.
Dramatists who have written political dramas in ...
television
miniseries
A miniseries or mini-series is a television series that tells a story in a predetermined, limited number of episodes. "Limited series" is another more recent US term which is sometimes used interchangeably. , the popularity of miniseries format h ...
, based on the book ''
A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership'' by former
FBI director
The Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation is the head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, a United States' federal law enforcement agency, and is responsible for its day-to-day operations. The FBI Director is appointed for a single ...
James Comey
James Brien Comey Jr. (; born December 14, 1960) is an American lawyer who was the seventh director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) from 2013 until his dismissal in May 2017. Comey was a registered Republican for most of his adul ...
. The miniseries stars
Jeff Daniels
Jeffrey Warren Daniels (born February 19, 1955) is an American actor, comedian, musician, and playwright, known for his work on stage and screen playing diverse characters switching between comedy and drama. He is the recipient of several accol ...
as Comey and
Brendan Gleeson
Brendan Gleeson (born 29 March 1955) is an Irish actor and film director. He is the recipient of three IFTA Awards, two British Independent Film Awards, and a Primetime Emmy Award and has been nominated twice for a BAFTA Award and four times for ...
as President
Donald Trump
Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021.
Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...
. The two-part miniseries was aired from September 27 to September 28, 2020 on
Showtime
Showtime or Show Time may refer to:
Film
* ''Showtime'' (film), a 2002 American action/comedy film
* ''Showtime'' (video), a 1995 live concert video by Blur
Television Networks and channels
* Showtime Networks, a division of Paramount Global w ...
.
Plot
The series follows
FBI
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and its principal Federal law enforcement in the United States, federal law enforcement age ...
director
James Comey
James Brien Comey Jr. (; born December 14, 1960) is an American lawyer who was the seventh director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) from 2013 until his dismissal in May 2017. Comey was a registered Republican for most of his adul ...
in the run-up to the
2016 election, and later in the early months of
Donald Trump
Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021.
Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...
's
presidency
A presidency is an administration or the executive, the collective administrative and governmental entity that exists around an office of president of a state or nation. Although often the executive branch of government, and often personified by a ...
.
In 2015, Comey asks
Mark F. Giuliano
Mark F. Giuliano is an American law enforcement official who served as the 15th Deputy Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation from December 1, 2013, until his retirement from the FBI on February 1, 2016.
Early life
Giuliano was born i ...
to stay on as the deputy FBI director to lead the
Hillary Clinton e-mail server "Midyear" investigation.
Crossfire Hurricane
''Crossfire Hurricane'' is a 2012 documentary film about the Rolling Stones written and directed by Brett Morgen. The film chronicles the early years of the band through to 1981. The film is a series of interviews conducted without cameras, while ...
in 2016 looks at
George Papadopoulos
George Demetrios Papadopoulos (; born August 19, 1987) is an author and former member of the foreign policy advisory panel to Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign. On October 5, 2017, Papadopoulos pleaded guilty to a felony charge of mak ...
, an advisor to the Trump campaign.
GRU
The Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, rus, Гла́вное управле́ние Генера́льного шта́ба Вооружённых сил Росси́йской Федера́ци ...
is said to have recruited
Carter Page
Carter William Page (born June 3, 1971) is an American petroleum industry consultant and a former foreign-policy adviser to Donald Trump during his 2016 presidential election campaign. Page is the founder and managing partner of Global Energy C ...
as an asset.
Paul Manafort
Paul John Manafort Jr. (; born April 1, 1949) is an American lobbyist, political consultant, and attorney. A long-time Republican Party campaign consultant, he chaired the Trump presidential campaign from June to August 2016. Manafort served ...
is said to be on the payroll of
Russian oligarch
Russian oligarchs (Russian language, Russian: олигархи, Romanization of Russian, romanized: ''oligarkhi'') are business oligarchs of the Post-Soviet states, former Soviet republics who rapidly accumulated wealth in the 1990s via the Priv ...
s
Oleg Deripaska
Oleg Vladimirovich Deripaska (russian: Олег Владимирович Дерипаска; born 2 January 1968) is a Russian billionaire and an industrialist. Deripaska enriched himself on previously state-owned assets that were privatized in ...
and
Dmytro Firtash
Dmytro Vasylovych Firtash ( uk, Дмитро́ Васи́льович Фі́рташ; born 2 May 1965) is a Ukrainian businessman who heads the board of directors of Group DF. He was highly influential during the Yuschenko administration and th ...
. The investigation finds un-corroborated evidence that the Russian government had damaging information on Donald Trump when he stayed at the
Ritz-Carlton Hotel Moscow
The Carlton, Moscow () (formerly The Ritz-Carlton, Moscow) is a 334-room 5-star luxury hotel in the center of Moscow.
History
The Ritz-Carlton, Moscow was developed by Kazakh property development group Capital Partners and financed by Merrill Lyn ...
in 2013.
After closing the Midyear Clinton investigation in July 2016, the FBI re-opens the investigation in October 2016 because some Hillary Clinton server e-mails turn up in a
new sexting scandal on
Anthony Weiner
Anthony David Weiner (; born September 4, 1964) is an American former politician who served as the U.S. representative for from 1999 until his resignation in 2011. A member of the Democratic Party, he consistently carried the district with at l ...
's laptop computer.
The first episode ends with news reports that Hillary Clinton has called Donald Trump to concede the election to him.
In the second episode, the heads of the
Intelligence Community tell Barack Obama that Russia wants a friendly Donald Trump in the White House to collapse
NATO
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...
, end the
Iran nuclear deal
The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA; fa, برنامه جامع اقدام مشترک , barnāmeye jāme'e eqdāme moshtarak (, ''BARJAM'')), commonly known as the Iran nuclear deal or Iran deal, is an agreement on the nuclear program ...
, allow
oil drilling in the Arctic, set up a
pathway for Turkish invasion against the Kurds, start a
trade war with China, and sow discord above all.
Russian ambassador
Sergey Kislyak
Sergey Ivanovich Kislyak ( rus, Серге́й Ива́нович Кисля́к, p=sʲɪrˈɡʲej ɪˈvanəvʲɪtɕ kʲɪˈslʲak; born 7 September 1950) is a Russian senior diplomat and politician. Since September 2017, he has represented Mo ...
lobbies
Michael Flynn
Michael Thomas Flynn (born December 24, 1958) is a retired United States Army lieutenant general and conspiracy theorist who was the 24th U.S. National Security Advisor for the first 22 days of the Trump administration. He resigned in light of ...
to end economic sanctions against Russia after Obama expels 35 Russian diplomats and announces further sanctions on Russia. After the 2016 election,
James Clapper
James Robert Clapper Jr. (born March 14, 1941) is a retired lieutenant general in the United States Air Force and former Director of National Intelligence. Clapper has held several key positions within the United States Intelligence Community. H ...
and other intel chiefs discuss the
Steele dossier
The Steele dossier, also known as the Trump–Russia dossier, is a controversial political opposition research report written from June to December 2016, containing allegations of misconduct, conspiracy, and cooperation between Donald Trump ...
with Obama during a briefing at the White House.
After Trump's election in 2016, the U.S. intel chiefs meet with the Trump campaign in
Trump Tower
Trump Tower is a 58-story, mixed-use skyscraper at 721–725 Fifth Avenue in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City, between East 56th and 57th Streets. The building contains the headquarters for the Trump Organization, as well ...
New York to state that Russian government agents are using
fake social media accounts at YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to duplicate pro-Trump propaganda at
Russia Today
RT (formerly Russia Today or Rossiya Segodnya (russian: Россия Сегодня) is a Russian state-controlled international news television network funded by the Russian government. It operates pay television and free-to-air channels ...
and
Sputnik Radio. Comey also accuses the Russians of attacking the voting process itself. The FBI intercepts five phone calls during which sanctions relief was discussed while
Mike Pence
Michael Richard Pence (born June 7, 1959) is an American politician who served as the 48th vice president of the United States from 2017 to 2021 under President Donald Trump. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as the 50th ...
tells ''
Face the Nation
''Face the Nation'' is a weekly news and morning public affairs program airing Sundays on the CBS radio and television network. Created by Frank Stanton in 1954, ''Face the Nation'' is one of the longest-running news programs in the history o ...
'' that the phone calls between Kislyak and Flynn were about expressing condolences for the
Russian plane crash.
Trump hosts Comey for a private dinner at the White House; during the meeting, Trump demands loyalty. Afterwards, Trump fires
Sally Yates
Sally Quillian Yates (born Sally Caroline Quillian; August 20, 1960) is an American lawyer. From 2010 to 2015, she was United States Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia. In 2015, she was appointed United States Deputy Attorney General b ...
. Trump tells Comey he didn't give "a billion dollars to Iran like Obama did." Trump goes on to ask Comey to drop the FBI investigation on Michael Flynn.
The second episode ends with the dismissal of Comey along with the firings, resignations, re-assignments, and retirements of several appointed officials at the FBI and
DOJ.
Cast
Main
*
Jeff Daniels
Jeffrey Warren Daniels (born February 19, 1955) is an American actor, comedian, musician, and playwright, known for his work on stage and screen playing diverse characters switching between comedy and drama. He is the recipient of several accol ...
as
James Comey
James Brien Comey Jr. (; born December 14, 1960) is an American lawyer who was the seventh director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) from 2013 until his dismissal in May 2017. Comey was a registered Republican for most of his adul ...
*
Brendan Gleeson
Brendan Gleeson (born 29 March 1955) is an Irish actor and film director. He is the recipient of three IFTA Awards, two British Independent Film Awards, and a Primetime Emmy Award and has been nominated twice for a BAFTA Award and four times for ...
as
Donald Trump
Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021.
Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...
*
Holly Hunter
Holly Patricia Hunter (born March 20, 1958) is an American actress. For her performance as Ada McGrath in the 1993 drama film ''The Piano'', Hunter won the Academy Award for Best Actress. She earned three additional Academy Award nominations for ...
as
Sally Yates
Sally Quillian Yates (born Sally Caroline Quillian; August 20, 1960) is an American lawyer. From 2010 to 2015, she was United States Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia. In 2015, she was appointed United States Deputy Attorney General b ...
*
Michael Kelly as
Andrew McCabe
Andrew George McCabe (born March 18, 1968) is an American attorney who served as the Deputy Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) from February 2016 to March 2018 and as the acting Director of the FBI from May 9, 2017, to Augus ...
*
Jennifer Ehle
Jennifer Anne Ehle (; born December 29, 1969) is an American actress, the daughter of English actress Rosemary Harris and American author John Ehle. She gained fame for her role as Elizabeth Bennet in the 1995 BBC miniseries '' Pride and Prejudi ...
as Patrice Comey
*
Scoot McNairy
John Marcus "Scoot" McNairy (born November 11, 1977) is an American actor and film producer. He is known for his roles in '' Monsters'', '' Argo'', ''Killing Them Softly'', ''12 Years a Slave'', '' Gone Girl'', and '' Batman v Superman: Dawn of ...
as
Rod Rosenstein
Rod Jay Rosenstein (; born January 13, 1965) is an American attorney who served as the 37th United States deputy attorney general from April 2017 until May 2019. Prior to his appointment, he served as a United States attorney for the District ...
*
Jonathan Banks
Jonathan Ray Banks (born January 31, 1947) is an American actor. Born in Washington, D.C. and raised in Chillum Heights, Maryland, while attending Indiana University Bloomington Banks did theatre. In 1974, he moved to Los Angeles where he beg ...
as
James Clapper
James Robert Clapper Jr. (born March 14, 1941) is a retired lieutenant general in the United States Air Force and former Director of National Intelligence. Clapper has held several key positions within the United States Intelligence Community. H ...
*
Oona Chaplin
Oona Castilla Chaplin (; born 4 June 1986) is a Spanish-Swiss actress. Her roles include Talisa Maegyr in the HBO TV series ''Game of Thrones'', Kitty Trevelyan in the BBC drama ''The Crimson Field'', and Zilpha Geary in the series ''Taboo''. ...
as
Lisa Page
The following is a list of controversies involving the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Throughout its history, the FBI has been the subject of a number of controversial cases, both at home and abroad.
Files on U.S. citizens
The FBI has m ...
*
Amy Seimetz
Amy Lynne Seimetz is an American actress and filmmaker. She has appeared in several productions, including AMC's '' The Killing'', HBO's ''Family Tree'', and films like ''Upstream Color'', '' Alien: Covenant'', ''Pet Sematary'', and ''No Sudden ...
as Trisha Anderson
*
Steven Pasquale
Steven Pasquale (pronounced ; born November 18, 1976) is an American actor. He is best known for his role as the New York City Firefighter/Emergency Medical Technician Sean Garrity in the series '' Rescue Me''. He made his television debut on the ...
as
Peter Strzok
Peter Paul Strzok II (, like ''struck''; born March 7, 1970) is a former United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agent. He was the Deputy Assistant Director of the FBI's Counterintelligence Division and led the investigation into R ...
Additional
*
Peter Coyote
Peter Coyote (born Robert Peter Cohon; October 10, 1941) is an American actor, director, screenwriter, author and narrator of films, theatre, television, and audiobooks. He worked on films such as '' E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial'' (1982), '' Cr ...
as
Robert Mueller
Robert Swan Mueller III (; born August 7, 1944) is an American lawyer and government official who served as the sixth director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) from 2001 to 2013.
A graduate of Princeton University and New York ...
*
William Sadler as
Michael Flynn
Michael Thomas Flynn (born December 24, 1958) is a retired United States Army lieutenant general and conspiracy theorist who was the 24th U.S. National Security Advisor for the first 22 days of the Trump administration. He resigned in light of ...
*
T. R. Knight
Theodore Raymond Knight (born March 26, 1973) is an American actor. He is best known for his role as Dr. George O'Malley on the ABC medical drama television series ''Grey's Anatomy'' (2005–2009, 2020), which earned him a nomination for the P ...
as
Reince Priebus
Reinhold Richard Priebus ( ; born March 18, 1972) is an American lawyer and politician who served as White House Chief of Staff for President Donald Trump from January 20, 2017, until July 31, 2017. He also served as the chairman of the Republ ...
*
Kingsley Ben-Adir
Kingsley Ben-Adir (born 28 February 1986) is a British actor. He has performed in several plays in London theatres. He played pathologist Marcus Summer in ITV's detective drama ''Vera'' and private detective Karim Washington on the second seas ...
as President
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...
*
Brian d'Arcy James as
Mark Giuliano
*
Steve Zissis
Steve Zissis ( el, Στηβ Ζήσης; born December 17, 1975)
is an American actor, writer and producer. A longtime friend of Jay and Mark Duplass, he has appeared in and co-produced some of their productions, including the films ''Baghead'' (2 ...
as
Jim Baker
*
Shawn Doyle
Shawn Doyle (born September 19, 1968) is a Canadian actor known for his roles in ''The Expanse'', '' The Eleventh Hour'', ''Big Love'', '' 24'', ''Desperate Housewives'', and '' Star Trek: Discovery''.
Early life and education
Doyle was born an ...
as
Bill Priestap
Edward William Priestap, also known as Bill Priestap (born April 5, 1969) is an American attorney and United States intelligence official. He was the assistant director of the FBI Counterintelligence Division from 2015 to 2018.
Education
Priestap ...
*Seann Gallagher as
Jim Rybicki
*
Damon Gupton
Damon Jamal Gupton (born January 4, 1973) is an American actor and orchestral conductor, best known for his series regular roles as Charles Foster on ''Deadline'', Evrard Velerio on ''Prime Suspect'', Adam Page on '' The Divide'', Detective Cal ...
as
Jeh Johnson
Jeh Charles Johnson ( "Jay"; born September 11, 1957) is an American lawyer and former government official. He was United States Secretary of Homeland Security from 2013 to 2017.
From 2009 to 2012, Johnson was the general counsel of the Departm ...
*
Joe Lo Truglio
Joseph Vincent Lo Truglio (; born December 2, 1970) is an American actor, comedian, writer and producer. Best known for his role as Charles Boyle on the Fox/NBC sitcom ''Brooklyn Nine-Nine'', he also was a cast member on the television series ''T ...
as
Jeff Sessions
Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III (born December 24, 1946) is an American politician and attorney who served as the 84th United States Attorney General from 2017 to 2018. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as United State ...
*
Michael Hyatt
Charlene "Michael" Hyatt is a British-born American actress. Before her work in film and television, she performed on stages throughout the United States, particularly in ''Ragtime'' on Broadway. She has played Brianna Barksdale on ''The Wire'' ...
as
Loretta Lynch
Loretta Elizabeth Lynch (born May 21, 1959) is an American lawyer who served as the 83rd attorney general of the United States from 2015 to 2017. She was appointed by President Barack Obama to succeed Eric Holder and previously served as the Un ...
*
Spencer Garrett
Spencer Garrett (born September 19, 1963) is an American actor. He is best known for his roles in the films '' Air Force One'' (1997), '' 21'' (2008), '' Public Enemies'' (2009), ''All the Way'' (2016), and '' The Front Runner'' (2018).
He is th ...
as Bill Sweeney
*John Bourgeois as
John Brennan John Brennan may refer to:
Public officials
* Jack Brennan (born 1937), U.S. Marine officer and aide of Richard Nixon
* John Brennan (CIA officer) (born 1955), former CIA Director
* John P. Brennan (1864–1943), Democratic politician in the U. ...
*Paul Bates as
Denis McDonough
Denis Richard McDonough (born December 2, 1969) is an American government official serving as the 11th United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs under President Joe Biden since 2021.
McDonough served in the Obama Administration as chief of s ...
*Anthony Bowden as
George Papadopoulos
George Demetrios Papadopoulos (; born August 19, 1987) is an author and former member of the foreign policy advisory panel to Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign. On October 5, 2017, Papadopoulos pleaded guilty to a felony charge of mak ...
*Harmon Walsh as
Donald Trump Jr.
Donald John Trump Jr. (born December 31, 1977) is an American political activist, businessman, author, and former television presenter. He is the eldest child of Donald Trump, 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021, and his firs ...
*Phillip Riccio as
Jared Kushner
Jared Corey Kushner (born January 10, 1981) is an American businessman and investor. He served as a senior advisor to 45th U.S. president Donald Trump, his father-in-law. Since leaving the White House, Kushner founded Affinity Partners, a pri ...
*Nicolas Van Burek as
Stephen Miller
*Richard Binsley as
Alexander Downer
Alexander John Gosse Downer (born 9 September 1951) is an Australian former politician and diplomat who was leader of the Liberal Party from 1994 to 1995, Minister for Foreign Affairs from 1996 to 2007, and High Commissioner to the United King ...
*Shauna McDonald as
Natalia Veselnitskaya
Natalia Vladimirovna Veselnitskaya ( rus, Ната́лья Влади́мировна Весельни́цкая, p=nɐˈtalʲjə vʲɪsʲɪlʲˈnʲitskəjə; born 22 February 1975 Kramatorsk, Donetsk Oblast, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union) is a R ...
*Tony Munch as
Sergey Lavrov
Sergey Viktorovich Lavrov (russian: Сергей Викторович Лавров, ; born 21 March 1950) is a Russian diplomat and politician who has served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs (Russia), Foreign Minister of Russia since 2004.
...
*Stass Klassen as
Vladimir Putin
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin; (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who holds the office of president of Russia. Putin has served continuously as president or prime minister since 1999: as prime min ...
*Harold Tausch as
Mike Rogers
*Andrew Di Rosa as Agent Hartz (NYFO)
Episodes
Production
It was announced in October 2019 that
Billy Ray would write and direct a
miniseries
A miniseries or mini-series is a television series that tells a story in a predetermined, limited number of episodes. "Limited series" is another more recent US term which is sometimes used interchangeably. , the popularity of miniseries format h ...
produced by
CBS Television Studios
CBS Studios, Inc. is an American television production company which is a subsidiary of CBS Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global. It was formed on January 17, 2006, by CBS Corporation as CBS Paramount Television, as a renaming of the o ...
that would adapt
James Comey
James Brien Comey Jr. (; born December 14, 1960) is an American lawyer who was the seventh director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) from 2013 until his dismissal in May 2017. Comey was a registered Republican for most of his adul ...
's autobiography ''
A Higher Loyalty'', with
Jeff Daniels
Jeffrey Warren Daniels (born February 19, 1955) is an American actor, comedian, musician, and playwright, known for his work on stage and screen playing diverse characters switching between comedy and drama. He is the recipient of several accol ...
playing Comey.
Brendan Gleeson
Brendan Gleeson (born 29 March 1955) is an Irish actor and film director. He is the recipient of three IFTA Awards, two British Independent Film Awards, and a Primetime Emmy Award and has been nominated twice for a BAFTA Award and four times for ...
was set to play
Donald Trump
Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021.
Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...
, with
Michael Kelly,
Jennifer Ehle
Jennifer Anne Ehle (; born December 29, 1969) is an American actress, the daughter of English actress Rosemary Harris and American author John Ehle. She gained fame for her role as Elizabeth Bennet in the 1995 BBC miniseries '' Pride and Prejudi ...
,
Holly Hunter
Holly Patricia Hunter (born March 20, 1958) is an American actress. For her performance as Ada McGrath in the 1993 drama film ''The Piano'', Hunter won the Academy Award for Best Actress. She earned three additional Academy Award nominations for ...
,
Steven Pasquale
Steven Pasquale (pronounced ; born November 18, 1976) is an American actor. He is best known for his role as the New York City Firefighter/Emergency Medical Technician Sean Garrity in the series '' Rescue Me''. He made his television debut on the ...
,
Oona Chaplin
Oona Castilla Chaplin (; born 4 June 1986) is a Spanish-Swiss actress. Her roles include Talisa Maegyr in the HBO TV series ''Game of Thrones'', Kitty Trevelyan in the BBC drama ''The Crimson Field'', and Zilpha Geary in the series ''Taboo''. ...
,
Scoot McNairy
John Marcus "Scoot" McNairy (born November 11, 1977) is an American actor and film producer. He is known for his roles in '' Monsters'', '' Argo'', ''Killing Them Softly'', ''12 Years a Slave'', '' Gone Girl'', and '' Batman v Superman: Dawn of ...
,
William Sadler, and
T. R. Knight
Theodore Raymond Knight (born March 26, 1973) is an American actor. He is best known for his role as Dr. George O'Malley on the ABC medical drama television series ''Grey's Anatomy'' (2005–2009, 2020), which earned him a nomination for the P ...
among the additional actors announced to star, and
Peter Coyote
Peter Coyote (born Robert Peter Cohon; October 10, 1941) is an American actor, director, screenwriter, author and narrator of films, theatre, television, and audiobooks. He worked on films such as '' E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial'' (1982), '' Cr ...
playing
Robert Mueller
Robert Swan Mueller III (; born August 7, 1944) is an American lawyer and government official who served as the sixth director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) from 2001 to 2013.
A graduate of Princeton University and New York ...
. Ray met with Comey multiple times over the course of a year to prepare the series. Filming began in
Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...
in November 2019. The series' budget was $40 million.
In June 2020, the series was revealed to be named ''The Comey Rule'', and to consist of two episodes totalling four hours.
The show was originally due to premiere on
Showtime
Showtime or Show Time may refer to:
Film
* ''Showtime'' (film), a 2002 American action/comedy film
* ''Showtime'' (video), a 1995 live concert video by Blur
Television Networks and channels
* Showtime Networks, a division of Paramount Global w ...
after the
2020 United States presidential election
The 2020 United States presidential election was the 59th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 3, 2020. The Democratic ticket of former vice president Joe Biden and the junior U.S. senator from California Kamala Ha ...
.
However, following criticism from Ray concerning the airdate,
the series was rescheduled to premiere over two nights, beginning on September 27, 2020.
In the United Kingdom, the series aired in four parts on
Sky Atlantic
Sky Atlantic is a British pay television channel owned by Sky Group Limited broadcast in the United Kingdom and Ireland. The channel is primarily dedicated to imported programmes from the United States, and holds the domestic rights to HBO ...
on September 30, 2020. In Australia, the series aired the same dates as the United States on the streaming service
Stan
Stan or STAN may refer to:
People
* Stan (given name), a list of people with the given name
** Stan Laurel (1890–1965), English comic actor, part of duo Laurel and Hardy
* Stan (surname), a Romanian surname
* Stan! (born 1964), American author ...
. The series aired on
WOWOW in Japan on November 1, 2020. The series arrived on Netflix US on September 28, 2021.
Reception
On
review aggregator
A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
, the series holds an approval rating of 68% based on 40 reviews, with an average rating of 6.03/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "Despite some impressive performances, ''The Comey Rule'' chaotic approach to current events clarifies very little, further obscuring the facts of already confusing circumstances without adding much insight." On
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
, it has a weighted average score of 58 out of 100, based on 28 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".
Daniel D'Addario of ''
Variety
Variety may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats
* Variety (radio)
* Variety show, in theater and television
Films
* ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont
* ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
'' gave the miniseries a negative review, specifying that it "bends and strains to accommodate Comey's showy displays of duty and righteousness," and that "Gleeson is at once the best and worst thing about ''The Comey Rule'', uncannily evoking the president's aura of menace and doing so while pushing his performance past a bizarre sheath of makeup that misses the mark." Laura Miller, writing in ''
Slate
Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. It is the finest grained foliated metamorphic rock. ...
'', describes the miniseries as "the story of institutions run in accordance with norms and traditions that seem permanent but prove terrifyingly fragile. Comey gets out, but the rest of us are still living in the sequel."
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Comey Rule, The
2020 American television series debuts
2020 American television series endings
2020s American drama television miniseries
2020s American political television series
American biographical series
American political drama television series
Films about presidents of the United States
Media about the Trump presidency
Showtime (TV network) original programming
Television series by CBS Studios
Television shows filmed in Toronto
Television shows based on non-fiction books
Cultural depictions of Donald Trump
Cultural depictions of Vladimir Putin
Cultural depictions of Barack Obama
Television series about the Federal Bureau of Investigation
White House in fiction
Television series set in 2015
Television series set in 2016
Television series set in 2017
Television shows scored by Henry Jackman