Colman Domingo tries to understand with The Madness in first look at new conspiracy thriller

Colman Domingo‘s new Netflix thriller is particularly timely. “We do live in a very mad, mad world right now,” the Oscar-nominated actor said in a Tudum story regarding the context of his upcoming series, The Madness. “You can just turn on the news right now, and you’re like, ‘What is being said? And how is that being done? And why is that normal?’ None of it is normal,” he continued. “This [series] is really letting you know that you’re right. It’s not normal. Let’s get to the bottom of it.”

Created by Stephen Belber (O.G., The Laramie Project), The Madness tells the story of one man caught in the middle of a “deadly conspiracy.” The official logline reads: “The Madness stars Domingo as media pundit Muncie Daniels, who must fight for his innocence and his life after he stumbles upon a murder deep in the woods of the Poconos mountains. As the walls close in, Muncie strives to reconnect with his estranged family—and his lost ideals—in order to survive.”

While a completely fictional story is a slight departure from Domingo’s other output as of late, the actor has been having a great year. He clinched a Best Actor nomination at the Oscars last year for his work in Rustin, and may be looking at round two this year for A24’s Rehabilitation Through the Arts (RTA)-focused Sing Sing (which you can see for free this week). He’s also playing Michael Jackson’s father, Joe Jackson, in Antoine Fuqua’s upcoming Michael biopic, and is set to make his feature-length directorial debut with a Nat King Cole biopic sometime in the future.

For now, however, he’s focused on The Madness. “Everything about this conspiracy thriller excited me,” Domingo continued in a statement. “It was a unique protagonist, one that I had never seen or experienced. Someone who has very centrist beliefs, and now they’re being thrust into the world to really hard-core believe in something and to reexamine the people that they believed were possible enemies. You realize you have more in common with them than you thought you had in the beginning. I think it says a lot about who we are now and what we’re willing to do, and also to look at who’s really pulling the strings and for whose benefit.”

The Madness also stars Marsha Stephanie Blake, Gabrielle Graham, John Ortiz, Tamsin Topolski, and Thaddeus J. Mixon. The eight-episode series premieres November 28. Check out some first-look images, courtesy of Netflix, below: