A major trucking industry group has called a new television series “disturbing and upsetting” for its portrayal of a truck driver who is also a serial killer.
The new drama series “Big Sky” is set to premiere on ABC on November 17.
ABC offered the following synopsis of the series that centers on the trucking industry:
“From visionary storyteller David E. Kelley (Big Little Lies) comes Big Sky, a thriller created by Kelley who will write multiple episodes and serve as showrunner in its premiere season. Private detectives Cassie Dewell and Cody Hoyt join forces with his estranged wife and ex-cop, Jenny Hoyt, to search for two sisters who have been kidnapped by a truck driver on a remote highway in Montana. But when they discover that these are not the only girls who have disappeared in the area, they must race against the clock to stop the killer before another woman is taken.”
The show’s negative depiction of the U.S. trucking industry, particularly during a pandemic when drivers are working hard to keep the country moving, raised the ire of the American Trucking Associations (ATA), who on November 4 addressed a letter to producer David E. Kelley as well as other ABC executives.
In the letter, the ATA said that they are “deeply concerned” that ABC would produce a television series depicting a truck driver as a serial killer just months after the American people recognized truckers as heroes for their efforts during the pandemic.
“The fact that you would choose to produce a series that actually demonizes a truck driver is disturbing and upsetting to the millions of hard working individuals in our industry. We hope you recognize how unfair this depiction is to these millions of drivers and believe an apology is appropriate,” the ATA writes.
This is not the first time that Hollywood has portrayed an American truck driver as a serial killer — “Rusty Nail” in the “Joyride” film series is a prime example.