Abhiroop Das
Created by Joshua Safran, Peacock’s ‘Line of Fire’ zooms into the endlessly complicated lives of the Hollingsworth family, where both the parents, Mike and Jane, as well as their children, Clare, Mike, and Russ, are top-level officials in various federal agencies. Whether it is watching over the most powerful people in the world as Secret Service agents or solving the most elusive crimes as an FBI hotshot, the Hollingsworths seem to have an innate ability to excel at all things professional, but the same cannot be said about their private lives. However, when all of them get entangled in a singular conspiracy, one focusing on an assassin, their dual lives begin to collapse in on themselves, compelling the family to confront the fractured relations that lie hidden beneath.
Line of Fire is a Work of Fiction Drawing From a Real Family the Creator Knew About
‘Line of Fire’ is a fictional story that chiefly draws its inspiration from a real family that series creator Joshua Safran knew. “One of my best friends in college, her family were all Secret Service agents except for her,” Safran recalled in a conversation with The Entertainment Weekly, noting that he became particularly curious about her family and its internal dynamics. While this may have been the starting point for the show, the Hollingsworths are far from a direct recreation of the family that Safran heard of. For one, the on-screen family is comprised of federal agents from a more diverse network, including the FBI, the Department of Justice, and the U.S. Marshals. Secondly, the specific characters and their plotlines are invented by Safran and his writing team.
When coming up with the broader concept for the show, Safran began seeing the Hollingsworth family as a sandbox for exploring the dichotomy between personal and professional lives. He explained, “If you’re in law enforcement, you are out patrolling, observing, researching, trying to put together a puzzle. But then you go back to your house, and you have dinner like everybody else, and you have family squabbles like everybody else.” This sheer contrast between the internal and external lives of the characters takes center stage in the episode-to-episode drama of ‘Line of Fire,’ and while characters from across agencies are known to link up professionally, this show brings in a familial angle to freshen things up.
In real life, the probability of a large family made up of federal officials is exceedingly rare, and that traces back to one of the federal laws of the homeland. As per Title 5, United States Code, Section 3110, a public official cannot advocate for the appointment, employment, promotion, or advancement of a relative anywhere within their own agency, or an agency they control. This effectively means that, for a Hollingsworth-esque family to realistically exist, all the people would have to be appointed on their own merits, thereby removing any possibility of nepotism. While certainly possible, these criteria explain precisely what makes the Hollingsworths so unique as a narrative construct.
Producer Jenna Bush Hager’s Experiences With the Secret Service Also Inform the Show
Joshua Safran’s personal anecdotes are not the only source of inspiration for the ‘Line of Fire,’ as executive producer Jenna Bush Hager actually grew up under Secret Service protection as the daughter of President George W. Bush. During an appearance on the ‘Today’ show, she noted, “it kind of springs from some experience that I had, having Secret Service,” particularly her observation of agents who left their own families to protect hers. In Safran’s eyes, this made Hager the “ultimate consultant,” as he mentioned in his interview with The Entertainment Weekly. However, she ensured that there was some distance between the fictional world and her own story, such that it doesn’t become biographical.
Apart from Hager, who brought in her own insider’s perspective, Safran and his crew also relied on employing separate Secret Service, U.S. Marshals, and FBI consultants. One of the Secret Service agents, he noted, had actually served on Barbara Bush’s detail and worked during the Clinton and Obama administrations. Their input forms the bedrock of the show, providing it with a strong sense of realism and attention to the finer details. Given that the story constantly deals with high-level security and intelligence operations, research was likely among the most crucial stages of the creative process, and that is reflected in what we see on screen.
Although Hager’s life may not be a direct reference point for the show, she did note that one particular plotline, about one of the agents having an affair with the in-universe first daughter, grabbed her attention. When she first heard of this plot beat, she was excited to see which direction it might take, but, while on ‘The Kelly Clarkson Show,’ she also added that the beat is firmly not based on her personal life and is completely fictional. Instead, she sees the entire show as a tribute to the Secret Service and other federal public agencies, with a mystery element to boot.
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