A highly anticipated graphic novel adaptation is currently in production in Atlanta, and the cast attached to it is turning some heads. Southern Bastards, a new drama pilot for Hulu, is filming in Georgia right now — and between Kevin Bacon, Tim McGraw, and Erin Kellyman, this one has the makings of a serious prestige series.
Where It Comes From
Southern Bastards is based on the award-winning graphic novel series by Jason Aaron and Jason Latour Dreamstime, both of whom are executive producing the adaptation. The comic ran from 2014 to 2020 and earned a devoted following for its unflinching look at football culture, corruption, and violence in the rural South. It’s the kind of source material that’s been calling out for a prestige TV adaptation for years.
The Story
The series follows a tenacious military veteran into Craw County, Alabama, in search of her estranged father. What she finds is a murderous hornet’s nest of organized crime run by the winningest high school football coach in the South. Dreamstime It’s a Southern Gothic crime story at its core — small town, deep secrets, football as religion, and power that corrupts everything around it.
The Cast
Kevin Bacon leads the series as Earl, the son of the legendary Sheriff Bert who once ruled Craw County with an iron fist. Earl is described as a tough but humble blue-collar army veteran — eager to mend fences, reconnect with his daughter, and not afraid to stir the hornet’s nest that is Craw County. AtlantaFi
For regular readers of this site, Bacon is practically a familiar face at this point. He filmed the pilot for his Fox series The Following here before the show ultimately moved its full production to New York. TV Insider Most recently, Bacon filmed the Amazon horror-action series The Bondsman out of Senoia’s Raleigh Studios — the same facility that was home to The Walking Dead for over a decade. AJC In The Bondsman, he played Hub Halloran, a small-town Georgia bounty hunter who comes back from the dead and finds his old job now has a demonic new twist. Patch That show premiered on Amazon in April 2025, meaning Bacon has barely had time to unpack before heading back to Atlanta for Southern Bastards.
Erin Kellyman plays Roberta, a former marine facing military charges after an incident in Afghanistan. She’s described as intelligent and psychologically complex, constantly trying to understand and outrun her generational trauma and inherited violence. Project Casting Kellyman is best known to genre audiences from 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, and Solo: A Star Wars Story.
And then there’s Tim McGraw. McGraw plays Coach Boss — the legendary head football coach of Craw County High School, described as the leader of his community and a complex figure who embodies the dark side of Southern football culture. He runs an organized crime ring that extends well beyond his small Alabama town, and he’s not afraid to protect his empire by any means necessary. Explore Georgia It’s a significantly darker role than McGraw’s previous TV work on 1883, and it sounds like a good fit for a story this gritty.
The Creative Team
This is where the project really starts to look like something special. Southern Bastards hails from Disney’s Onyx Collective, POV Entertainment, and Ryan Coogler’s Proximity Media, in association with Fifth Season. Bill Dubuque — the writer behind Ozark — penned the teleplay and shares story credit with Nia DaCosta. Matt Olmstead, known for the Chicago franchise, will serve as showrunner. Dreamstime
The pilot will be directed by Reinaldo Marcus Green, known for King Richard and We Own This City. Shutterstock That’s a deep bench of serious creative talent for a pilot, and it signals that Hulu is treating this one as a priority project rather than a test run.
The Georgia Connection
Filming is set in Atlanta, with Georgia standing in for the fictional Craw County, Alabama — which should feel very natural given how much of the state’s landscape and culture overlaps with the story’s setting. If you’re anywhere near the Atlanta area and spot a production crew working around small-town environments over the coming weeks, there’s a reasonable chance it’s this one.
No series pickup has been announced yet — this is still a pilot — but with this cast and creative team behind it, it’s hard to imagine Hulu passing on it.
