Neubauer Artists Presents Michael Douglas’s on ‘Franklin’ Benjamin Heads to France on a Diplomatic Mission

The Benjamin Franklin we meet in Apple TV+’s limited

Oscar winner Michael Douglas stars as the famed Founding Father in the eight-episode series, debuting Friday, April 12 on the streamer with the first three episodes. Apple TV+ has released a new trailer, which you can watch above, with a 70-year-old Benjamin Franklin heading to France in 1776 with his teen grandson Temple (The Undoing’s Noah Jupe) on a diplomatic mission to secure France’s support for America’s fight for independence in the Revolutionary War.

“Without your aid,” Franklin warns a French envoy, “the United States will end before it has begun.” He aims to charm the French over to the American side: “Diplomacy must never be a siege, but a seduction.” (In related news, we see Franklin eagerly hop into bed with a French maiden.) He does face stiff resistance, but he declares, “If the price is our lives, we’ll pay it.” And when he’s warned that he’s playing “a dangerous game,” he smiles: “That’s just the kind of game I like.”

“In December 1776, Benjamin Franklin is world famous for his electrical experiments,” according to the official synopsis. “But his passion and power are put to the test when he embarks on a secret mission to France to leave American fate hanging in the balance.”