A Friend of the Family trailer shares a chilling cautionary tale of a monster lurking among us

Not everyone is a good person. Some people have darkness lurking in them that drives them to commit unspeakable acts. These people could be your family, co-workers, and friends. People change behind closed doors, but some monsters refuse to remain hidden when an object of desire threatens to escape their grasp. In Peacock’s A Friend of the Family trailer, the Broberg family discovers an unfathomable secret about a friend who feels more like an extended family member.

According to PeacockA Friend of the Family is “based on the harrowing true story of the Broberg family, whose daughter Jan was kidnapped multiple times over a period of a few years by a charismatic, obsessed family “friend.” The Brobergs — devoted to their faith, family, and community — were utterly unprepared for the sophisticated tactics their neighbor used to exploit their vulnerabilities, drive them apart, and turn their daughter against them. This is the story of how their lives were permanently altered — and how they survived.”

Peacock’s A Friend of the Family trailer will send shivers down your spine as you watch Jake Lacy’s transformation from a seemingly harmless Mormon to a lecherous and manipulative abductor. Disturbing patterns emerge as Lacy casts a spell over the Broberg family, inserting himself in a role that threatens to break the group apart at the seams. What do you do when you can longer trust the people closest to you?

A Friend of the Family trailer, Peacock, McKenna Grace, Clin Hanks, Anna Paquin, Nick Antosca

Premiering on October 6, Nick Antosca writes, executive produces and showruns the Peacock Original series. Alex Hedlund will executive produce alongside Eliza Hitman, who directs multiple episodes. Jan Broberg and Mary Ann Broberg produce, with Skye Borgman consulting for Top Knot Films.

Per the official press release for Peacock’s A Friend of the Family trailer:

Anna Paquin (FlackThe IrishmanTrue Blood) will play the role of Mary Ann Broberg. Mary Ann is the mother of three daughters, and her life has felt safe, happy and rewarding until recently. She has realized too late that she may have missed warning signs and made a terrible mistake by becoming close to her charismatic neighbor Robert Berchtold — and trusting him around her oldest daughter, Jan.

Jake Lacy (The White Lotus, Being the Ricardos) will play the role of Robert “B” Berchtold, a charming local businessman who appears to be a genial Mormon father and husband. An expert in manipulation, he puts everyone around him at ease as he carefully plots the abduction of Mary Ann’s daughter.

Colin Hanks (The Offer, Impeachment: American Crime Story) will play the role of Bob Broberg, Mary Ann’s husband and Jan’s father, Bob is big-hearted, kind, and everyone’s best friend, the very model of a suburban patriarch. As his family gets closer to neighbor Robert Berchtold, Bob begins to fear that something is amiss.

Lio Tipton (The Edge of SleepWhy Women Kill) will play the role of Gail Berchtold. Gail is Robert Berchtold’s wife and the mother of a large family. Her husband suffers from mood swings and this has led him to act erratically. Gail’s concerns about her husband may keep her on edge, but she never could have expected what her husband would eventually do.

Mckenna Grace (Ghostbusters: Afterlife, Captain Marvel) will play the role of Jan Broberg in the later years. Jan is the oldest daughter of Bob and Mary Ann Broberg and leads a happy, traditional life in an idyllic American city. Jan trusts family friend and neighbor Robert Berchtold, though he has plans for her abduction that she doesn’t suspect.

Hendrix Yancey (George & Tammy, Unbelievable) will play the role of Jan Broberg in the early years. Jan is the oldest daughter of Bob and Mary Ann Broberg and leads a happy, traditional life in an idyllic American city. Jan trusts family friend and neighbor Robert Berchtold, though he has plans for her abduction that she doesn’t suspect.

A Friend of the Family, Peacock Original, image, family, Broberg

Speaking about what compelled him about the Broberg family’s harrowing story, Nick Antosca included the following note in today’s official press release:

“It’s easy to judge the Broberg family’s story from the outside. Sometimes when people first hear it, they get defensive: How could these parents have let this happen? I’m not like them.

It is understandable. It’s a surreal story. When I first heard it, I empathized with the family’s vulnerability, and I felt like I understood their story from the outside. But it stayed with me, and I wanted to understand from the inside — to know what their lives felt like, to live in each family member’s experience, to see how they were caught in such a bizarre web, and to help audiences empathize with them too.

I hope people will come away from the series with a deeper understanding of the family and say: In that time, in that place, they were like me. They made terrible mistakes, but they loved their kids. And, a master manipulator took advantage of them.

The series exists outside the typical categories of genre. It’s a thriller built around obsessive relationships, a family drama, and a nightmarish coming-of-age story.

In the course of working on this story and talking with others who have worked on it, one thing has become clear: It’s more relatable than it first seems. The Brobergs’ story is an extreme point on a continuum that more of us are on than we realize.

The other reason I couldn’t stop thinking about this story is, after all of it, the Broberg family grew stronger. They loved and forgave. This is a story about survival, and a larger story about the American psyche and the institutions of family, religion, and community. And part of what makes the story so exceptional isn’t how strange it is, but the fact that the Brobergs told it at all.

It was a wrenching, complicated story to work on. In addition to the thousands of pages of trial transcripts, FBI notes, interviews, and childhood diaries that we were able to use to tell the story, we have had the privilege of working with Jan Broberg herself. We could not and would not tell this story without Jan and her family’s blessing and participation.    

Thank you for watching.”

What do you think about Peacock’s A Friend of the Family trailer? Will you tune in for this disturbing suburban horror on October 6th?

A Friend of the Family, Peacock Original, key art
Source: Peacock

About the Author

Born and raised in New York, then immigrated to Canada, Steve Seigh has been a JoBlo.com editor, columnist, and critic since 2012. He started with Ink & Pixel, a column celebrating the magic and evolution of animation, before launching the companion YouTube series Animation Movies Revisited. He's also the host of the Talking Comics Podcast, a personality-driven audio show focusing on comic books, film, music, and more. You'll rarely catch him without headphones on his head and pancakes on his breath.