If you were around in 1987, you probably couldn't look at a kitchen stove without thinking about a boiling rabbit. That original movie was a cultural sledgehammer. It basically scared an entire generation of men into staying faithful, or at least that was the idea. But when the Paramount+ series launched, things got a lot more complicated. Joshua Jackson took on the mantle of Dan Gallagher, the role Michael Douglas made famous, and honestly, he didn't just step into those shoes. He rebuilt the whole character from the ground up.
Most people expected a beat-for-beat remake of the erotic thriller. You know, the "nice guy" gets stalked by a "crazy woman" trope.
The 2023 version of Joshua Jackson Fatal Attraction isn't that at all. It’s actually a dual-timeline legal drama that asks a pretty uncomfortable question: Is anyone actually the "good guy" in this story? The show picks up fifteen years after the affair, with Dan Gallagher walking out of prison. Yeah, you read that right. In this version, he didn't just have a bad weekend; he lost his entire life to a murder conviction.
Why the Joshua Jackson Fatal Attraction Remake Changed Everything
The biggest pivot here is the perspective. In the 80s, Alex Forrest (played then by Glenn Close) was essentially a monster under the bed. She was the "other woman" who existed solely to ruin a happy family. Joshua Jackson’s version of the story, alongside a brilliant and haunting Lizzy Caplan, dives way deeper into the why.
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It’s about entitlement. It’s about a mid-life crisis that goes off the rails.
Instead of New York City, we're in Los Angeles. Dan isn't just a corporate lawyer; he's a Deputy District Attorney with a massive ego and a chip on his shoulder because he got passed over for a judgeship. That's the spark. He feels powerless in his career, so when he meets Alex—who works in Victim Services—he uses her to feel like a "big man" again. Jackson plays this with a sort of "smug nice guy" energy that makes you realize Dan is much more responsible for the chaos than the original film ever let on.
The Two Timelines You Have to Track
The show jumps back and forth between 2008 and 2023. This isn't just a stylistic choice; it's a structural necessity to show how a single weekend of bad choices can ripple through decades.
- 2008 Timeline: This is the "affair" era. It’s steamy, sure, but it’s also clinical. We see the mechanics of how these two people collide.
- 2023 Timeline: Dan is out on parole. He’s trying to reconnect with his daughter, Ellen, who is now a psychology student (played by Alyssa Jirrels).
Watching a disheveled, older Joshua Jackson try to explain his way back into his daughter's life is actually where the emotional weight of the series sits. He isn't the dashing lead anymore. He's a man who has been "emptied out" by his own actions. Jackson has even mentioned in interviews that shooting those scenes with his "grown" TV daughter was incredibly difficult because he's a father in real life now. He had to tap into that specific fear of being a stranger to your own child.
The Twist Nobody Saw Coming
If you're looking for the bunny, you're going to be disappointed. Or maybe relieved?
The series subverts almost every iconic "horror" moment from the film. There is a white bunny—it belongs to a neighbor—but it doesn't end up in a pot of water. Instead, the show uses more psychological violence. For example, instead of the "I'm not going to be ignored" speech leading to a physical fight, the series shows Alex infiltrating Beth’s (Dan’s wife, played by Amanda Peet) life in a much more insidious way.
And then there's the ending.
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In the 1987 movie, Beth shoots Alex in self-defense. It’s a clear-cut "hero kills the villain" moment. In the Joshua Jackson Fatal Attraction series, the truth is much grimmer. It turns out Dan didn't kill Alex, but he wasn't exactly a hero either. The actual killer is Arthur Tomlinson (Brian Goodman), a family friend who did it to "protect" Beth and then let Dan rot in prison for fifteen years. It turns the whole "erotic thriller" genre into a tragedy about people who think they are doing the right thing while destroying everything around them.
Real-World Themes in a Reimagined World
The show tries to fix the "stigmatizing" view of mental health that the original film was criticized for. Lizzy Caplan’s Alex has a backstory involving a toxic father and a history of being "discarded" by powerful men. She isn't just "crazy." She's someone with a personality disorder who is being actively gaslit by a man who thinks he can just delete her from his life once he’s bored.
Joshua Jackson’s performance is key here because he doesn't make Dan Gallagher likable. He makes him human. You see the moments where he could have stopped. You see the points where his own pride pushed him further into the lie.
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Actionable Takeaways for Viewers
If you're planning to dive into this series on Paramount+, here is how to get the most out of it:
- Forget the Movie: If you go in expecting a slasher-style thriller, you'll find the pacing slow. It’s a slow-burn character study. Treat it like a legal procedural mixed with a psychological drama.
- Watch the Background: The production design is full of "Easter eggs." Alex’s loft is designed with 50 shades of white—an homage to the "purity" and "blank slate" her character is trying to project.
- Pay Attention to Ellen: The daughter’s arc in the 2023 timeline isn't just filler. The show ends with a massive hint that the cycle of obsession might not have ended with Dan and Alex.
- Listen to the Dialogue: The scenes where Dan and Alex flirt in the bar are some of the best-written parts. They actually talk like two people who are intellectually matched, which makes the eventual fallout feel much more like a betrayal of equals rather than a predator/prey dynamic.
The series definitely had its critics. Some people felt the eight-episode length was too much "bloat" compared to the tight two-hour film. Others found the shifting timelines confusing. But honestly? Seeing Joshua Jackson play a character who has to actually face accountability—not just a jump-scare in a bathtub—is a fascinating evolution of a story we all thought we knew.
To really grasp the nuance Jackson brings to the role, pay close attention to his body language in the parole hearing versus the 2008 flashbacks. The physical transformation from a man who thinks he owns the world to a man who owns nothing is arguably the best work of his career.