Paramount+ released the official trailer for Happy Face on March 4, 2025. Dennis Quaid plays real-life serial killer Keith Hunter Jesperson, known as the Happy Face Killer; Annaleigh Ashford plays his adult daughter, Melissa. The eight-episode drama draws on Melissa G. Moore’s life and work, but its present-day crime plot is fictionalized. Paramount+ currently lists all episodes as streaming, with availability subject to territory.
What happens in the Happy Face trailer?
The trailer sets up a drama centered on Melissa and her incarcerated father. After decades without contact, he re-enters her life, and she faces a disturbing claim: an innocent man may be executed for a crime her father committed. The premise pushes Melissa to reckon with the victims’ families as well as the effect her father’s crimes have had on her own identity.
That scenario is the series’ dramatic setup, not a verified account of a real case. The distinction matters: the show uses real people and source material, but its central present-day dilemma is invented.
Who is Dennis Quaid playing?
Quaid portrays Keith Hunter Jesperson, the real serial killer known as the Happy Face Killer. Paramount says the nickname came from the smiley faces Jesperson drew on evidence where he bragged about his crimes. Paramount+’s series page features the show and its Season 1 episodes.
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TIME reports that Jesperson killed at least eight women between 1990 and 1995. He signed anonymous confessional notes sent to newspapers and written on restroom walls with a smiley face, was arrested in 1995, and later confessed. TIME reports he is serving several life sentences at Oregon State Penitentiary. TIME’s report and interview with Melissa Moore distinguishes those facts from the fictionalized series plot.
How much of the series is based on Melissa Moore’s life?
Paramount says the series is inspired by Moore’s true-life story, her Happy Face podcast with iHeartPodcasts, and her autobiography, Shattered Silence, written with M. Bridget Cook. Moore was 15 when she discovered that her father was the serial killer known as Happy Face. Paramount+’s show listing credits these sources.
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The series presents a grown-up, dramatized version of Moore, played by Ashford. TIME describes the present-day story as fictional: in the show, Jesperson contacts Moore’s employer and claims to have information about an alleged ninth murder victim. Neither that alleged victim nor the endangered man in the show’s premise should be treated as an established real-life case fact. Moore told TIME that some parts of the portrayal of her past relationship felt authentic.
For Moore’s account in her own words, Paramount identifies Shattered Silence as the autobiographical source written with Cook.
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What perspective does the drama take?
Showrunner and executive producer Jennifer Cacicio told The Associated Press that she was less interested in serial-killer psychology or depicting violence and more interested in telling a true-crime story “through a different lens.” She also described the question at the heart of that approach: what happens to the rest of a family when a secret and a series of violent crimes create “ripple effects on everybody involved.” The Associated Press interviewed Cacicio about the series.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.When did Happy Face premiere, and is it streaming?
Paramount’s March 4, 2025 announcement set the eight-episode season to begin with two episodes on Thursday, March 20, followed by weekly Thursday releases and a finale on May 1, 2025. The announced cast also includes James Wolk, Tamera Tomakili, Khiyla Aynne, and Benjamin Mackey. Paramount+’s current listing says all episodes are streaming; access can vary by territory.
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