Dennis Quaid, Annaleigh Ashford in ‘Happy Face’ Teaser for Paramount+

The long-in-the-works thriller Happy Face will arrive on Paramount+ in the spring.

The streamer has set a March 20 premiere date and released a teaser for the drama, which stars Annaleigh Ashford (B Positive, Masters of Sex) as Melissa, a woman whose father (Dennis Quaid) is a notorious serial killer known as Happy Face. The show, executive produced by Robert and Michelle King (Evil, Elsbeth), is based on a true story.

In the teaser, Ashford’s Melissa says that “every violent act is a rock dropped in water. If you stay silent, the ripples of trauma just keep pulling everyone they touch underneath.” Watch it below.

Along with Ashford and Quaid, Happy Face also stars James Wolk, Tamera Tomakili, Khiyla Aynne and Benjamin Mackey. The show is based on the real-life story of Melissa G. Moore; the Happy Face podcast from Moore and iHeartPodcasts; and Moore’s autobiography Shattered Silence, written with M. Bridget Cook.

Paramount+ ordered the series in 2021, and it had been in the works for a year prior to that. Ashford and Quaid boarded the show early last year. The streamer’s description of Happy Face says the show will branch off from Moore’s real-life story and follow Melissa and her father, who, “after decades of no contact, finally finds a way to force himself back into his daughter’s life. In a race against the clock, Melissa must find out if an innocent man is going to be put to death for a crime her father committed. Throughout, she discovers the impact her father had on his victims’ families and must face a reckoning of her own identity.”

CBS Studios produces the series with King Size Productions, iHeartPodcasts and Semi-Formal Productions. Jennifer Cacicio (Your Honor, Shooter) is the showrunner and executive produces with the Kings, Liz Glotzer, Moore, Conal Byrne, Will Pearson, Michael Showalter (who also directed the first episode) and Jordana Mollick.