Armie Hammer to star in The Offer, Paramount Plus' behind-the-scenes Godfather drama series

According to Variety, Armie Hammer has signed on to star in The Offer, an upcoming drama series about the making of The Godfather—so the name is a play on “make him an offer he can’t refuse” and not a play on The Office—that’s coming to Paramount Plus (the streaming service formerly known as CBS All Access). Rather than playing Francis Ford Coppola, which would be a choice, Hammer will be playing producer Al Ruddy (who also happens to be an executive producer on The Offer), with Variety explaining that the show is about Ruddy’s “experience on the set of the iconic mob drama.” The Offer will be Hammer’s first regular TV gig, and as we learned back in September, the 10-episode series will be written by Michael Tolkin (Escape At Dannemora).

Now, before anyone starts fan-casting major Godfather figures like Coppola, we should point out that a movie about the making of The Godfather is in the works already, with Oscar Isaac playing the director and Jake Gyllenhaal as Robert Evans. That one’s called Francis And The Godfather, and Barry Levinson is directing. It is, to be clear, unrelated to Paramount Plus’ The Offer. People just really want to make stuff about making The Godfather. Even Coppola himself kind of went back to making The Godfather this summer, cutting together his new version of the third film, which is now titled Mario Puzo’s The Godfather Coda: The Death Of Michael Corleone.