Just in time for Election Day, Showtime has announced it is developing a series that sees the United States igniting into civil war on Election Day. Anthem will tell the story of a nation so gripped with partisan rancor that the outcome of a presidential election drives the country to the edge of armed conflict, rather than people just threatening to do so in vitriolic Facebook comment threads.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, multiple networks sought to produce the series, but Showtime ultimately landed Jon Lovett’s dystopian vision. Lovett previously wrote for the Oval Office comedy 1600 Penn and served as a speechwriter for President Obama, so he may know a thing or two about enraged constituents.
The series is ostensibly fictional, so we probably won’t get to see a bloody showdown between the forces of Generals Keith Olbermann and Rush Limbaugh, or Rand Paul and Al Franken negotiating a maze of tunnels by torchlight to meet for midnight armistice parleys in a secret bunker below the Senate chamber. At least, not on TV.