Jessica Chastain ‘not aligned’ with Apple’s decision to pause The Savant

US actress Jessica Chastain has said she is “not aligned” with the decision by AppleTV+ to pause the release of her upcoming streaming series The Savant.

The series, in which the Oscar winner plays an elite investigator who tracks online hate groups, features extremist attacks and imagery.

AppleTV+ said this week that it would postpone the forthcoming drama “after careful consideration”. The streaming giant did not elaborate on the decision, though it came in the wake of the killing of conservative political activist Charlie Kirk.

In a post on Instagram, Chastain said the show is relevant to current events and would honour the heroes “who work every day to stop violence before it happens”.

The Savant was set to premiere in the US on Friday but has been postponed to “a future date”, Apple said on Tuesday.

The drama series, which Chastain also executive produced, is based on a 2019 Cosmopolitan magazine article about a top-secret investigator known as the savant who traces white supremacists and other hate groups on-line in order to prevent violent attacks.

Chastain, who won an Oscar for her role as a televangelist in The Eyes of Tammy Faye, plays a suburban mom known as the titular Savant in the series.

The Zero Dark Thirty and The Help star told her 5.4 million followers on Instagram on Wednesday that she and Apple are “not aligned on the decision to pause the release of The Savant” and cited several violent attacks in the US as crucial to the show’s relevance.

Among them, Chastain pointed to hundreds of school shootings, the kidnapping attempt on Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, the 6 January attack on the US Capitol building, assassination attempts on President Donald Trump, as well as Kirk’s murder earlier this month.

“These incidents, though far from encompassing the full range of violence witnessed in the United States, illustrate a broader mindset that crosses the political spectrum and must be confronted,” she wrote.

“I’ve never shied away from difficult subjects, and while I wish this show wasn’t so relevant, unfortunately it is,” she added.

The series, she argued, is “about the heroes who work every day to stop violence before it happens, and honoring their courage feels more urgent than ever”.

She concluded by saying that she respects the streamer’s decision to pause the release for now, she remains “hopeful the show will reach audiences soon”.

Representatives for AppleTV+ did not immediately respond on Wednesday to the BBC’s inquiries about Chastain’s remarks.

The series also stars former American footballer Nnamdi Asomugha, Pablo Schreiber, Cole Doman, Michael Patrick Thornton and Richard Grant, who have not yet spoken out about the postponement.

Series directors Matthew Heineman and Rachel Morrison reposted Chastain’s Instagram post on their respective accounts.

“This,” Morrison wrote in her repost.