Dylan McDermott and Toni Collette looking annoyed in an elevator in HostagesImage via CBS
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Jen Vestuto
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Jen Vestuto is a TV Features Writer for Collider. A born and raised New Yorker, she started her career on set as a production assistant for shows like Law & Order: SVU and Person of Interest. In LA, she worked in the writers' rooms for The Vampire Diaries and Nancy Drew. Along with her writing partner, she joined the writing staff of Nancy Drew in Season 2 and stayed on the run of the show, which ended in 2022 with Season 4.
Jen grew up on Long Island in a loud Italian family. She's been writing creatively since she was in elementary school and would often make her younger sister act out scenes from her favorite movies with her. Jen is also a massive sports fan and was an athlete herself growing up.
Writing features for Collider gives her the opportunity to share her passion for great storytelling and compelling characters.
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Back in 2013, network TV, especially on CBS, was dominated by familiar procedural rhythms. Franchises like CSI, NCIS and Criminal Minds, along with shows such as Person of Interest and Elementary, defined the schedule. But looking back, one show airing that fall feels like the kind of serialized thriller that would be dominating today’s streaming charts or thriving on a premium cable network. Instead, it lasted just a single season.
Hostages is a tense, ambitious drama that was abruptly cancelled before it could fully tap into its potential. The series marked Toni Collette’s return to television after her acclaimed run on United States of Tara, and it featured one of her most underrated performances. At a time when network TV still relied heavily on case-of-the-week storytelling, Hostages dared to embrace a tightly serialized, high-stakes political thriller format which fits far more naturally in today’s landscape. In many ways, the show was simply ahead of its time, and it's first and only season is free to watch on Tubi.
What Is Toni Collette's Forgotten Thriller 'Hostages' About?
The premise alone set Hostages apart from almost everything else on network TV. Collette stars as Dr. Ellen Sanders, a world-renowned surgeon chosen to operate on the President of the United States. However, the night before the operation, her family is taken hostage by a group of masked intruders led by rogue FBI agent Duncan Carlisle (Dylan McDermott, years before he would headline FBI: Most Wanted). Their simple yet horrifying demand is that Ellen must sabotage the operation and let the president die — or her family will pay the price.
On its own, it’s an instantly gripping setup and almost feels more like a movie premise, and certainly not something for network TV in 2013. But stretched over 15 episodes, each one representing a single day in the story’s timeline, it becomes clear that Hostages has all the makings of the gritty, serialized limited series we see today. As strong as the initial hook is, it’s only the beginning. While Ellen scrambles to protect her family and stall for time, the conspiracy behind the assassination plot expands into something far larger and far more personal than she or the audience ever expects, especially when it comes to Duncan. The show’s tension hinges on the shifting leverage between Ellen and Duncan, slowly revealing his motives and blurring the line between hero and villain in ways that keep the stakes escalating until the very end.
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Posts By Jake Hodges Jul 25, 2025What also sets Hostages apart is how many storylines it juggles without losing momentum. There are a lot of secrets being kept in Hostages, which helps keep the tension alive from all angles. Tate Donovan’s Brian Sanders carries secrets that threaten to unravel the family from the inside, while Billy Brown, Sandrine Holt, and Jeremy Bobb bring texture to the people orbiting Duncan’s plan. As their motivations and betrayals come into focus, the series expands beyond a simple hostage thriller into a broader web of political corruption, personal sacrifice and impossible choices. Instead of relying on procedural beats, Hostages takes its time peeling back the layers of its characters, making each one as complex and conflicted as possible. The series weaves those personal complications into a slow-burn narrative that feels far more ambitious and far more serialized than anything else on CBS at the time.
Toni Collette and Dylan McDermott’s Tense Dynamic Makes 'Hostages' Worth Watching
Dylan McDermott as Duncan and Toni Collette as Ellen in HostagesImage via CBS
What truly elevates Hostages beyond its intriguing premise is the electric push-and-pull between Toni Collette and Dylan McDermott. As Ellen Sanders and Duncan Carlisle, they’re two brilliant people forced into opposite corners of an impossible situation. Their on-screen chemistry crackles as they constantly battle for the upper hand, both desperate to save their families even as they find themselves strangely understanding each other. The result is a series of leverage shifts, as one moment Duncan holds all the cards and the next, Ellen turns the tables. Collette’s movie-star presence grounds it all, and she plays Ellen as a woman who becomes someone different with her family, at work, and with her captors, slowly discovering her strength in the most destabilizing circumstances imaginable.
Both actors have spoken openly about what drew them to the show, and it’s clear why. At the time, the series felt far fresher and more layered than most network dramas. In an interview with Channel 4, McDermott said he was “instantly intrigued” by Duncan’s morally gray nature and how he walked the line between good and bad. Collette praised how “the characters are so complex and three-dimensional and relatable and real.” That kind of language is commonplace in today’s prestige television, but for CBS in 2013, it signaled that Hostages belonged to a different era of storytelling, and perhaps, one that hadn’t fully arrived yet.
Despite all of this, the show still ended after one season. Ratings dropped sharply after the premiere, which is especially unfortunate because the series felt like it had great potential for several more seasons. In the binge-watching era, Hostages likely would have thrived alongside politically-charged hits like The Night Agent or The Diplomat, which blend political intrigue, family drama and character-driven tension. The show’s layered mystery and moral complexity feel far more aligned with today’s streaming landscape.
In hindsight, it’s clear Hostages was built for more than a single season. The writing is smart and deeply character-driven in ways network audiences may not have been fully primed for yet. Released today, its intricate plot and stacked cast would fit seamlessly on a major streamer and would almost certainly find the wider audience it always deserved. Thankfully, with streaming platforms giving overlooked series a second life, you can watch the entire season on Tubi and see for yourself just how ahead of its time Hostages really was.
Hostages
Like Follow Followed TV-14 Drama Thriller Release Date 2013 - 2014-00-00 Network CBS Directors Jeffrey Nachmanoff Writers Nick SantoraCast
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Billy Brown
Archer
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Dylan McDermott
Agent Duncan Carlisle
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Sandrine Holt
Maria Gonzales
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Toni Collette
Ellen Sanders
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Hostages
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Toni Collette
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