Everything We Know About Feud: Capote vs. The Swans

After a nearly seven-year hiatus, Ryan Murphy's Feud is returning for its second season, officially making it an anthology series and not just a one-off limited series. The first season, titled Feud: Bette vs. Joan, focused on the infamous animosity between Hollywood actresses Bette Davis (played by Susan Sarandon) and Joan Crawford (Jessica Lange), especially as the two converged to co-star in Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?.

With Season 2, Feud: Capote vs. The Swans just around the corner, we've collected all the pertinent information about the show: who's starring, who's behind the camera, and what to expect from this salacious slice of celebrity gossip from 50 years ago.

What Is Feud: Capote vs. The Swans About?

True to its title, Feud: Capote vs. The Swans will tell the story of celebrated author, screenwriter, and social gadfly Truman Capote and the infamous falling-out he had with his circle of wealthy middle-aged New York socialites. He dubbed them his Swans, and they included the likes of Babe Paley, Slim Keith, and Lee Radziwell. They were models and fashion mavens, many of them married to incredibly wealthy and influential men.

After Capote had attained a level of fame from writing In Cold Blood, they invited him into their lives and social functions. He entertained and impressed his Swans with his wit and intelligence, and in return, they shared with him the details of their lives and relationships. Through his friendships with these women, Capote became a socialite in his own right. It all changed when Capote published a short story in Esquire that spilled all these women's secrets: Babe Paley's husband's incessant affairs; the truth about Ann Woodward murdering her husband, all in tremendously cruel prose. Most of the Swans took it as an unforgivable betrayal, and Capote was immediately iced out of New York society.

Who’s in the Cast of Feud: Capote vs. The Swans?

As is typical for a Ryan Murphy-produced series, it's an all-star cast. Tom Hollander stars as Truman Capote. The British actor last took on a wealthy socialite as Quentin in The White Lotus Season 2, though he's also starred in The Night Manager, In the Loop, and About Time. The Swans include Naomi Watts as Babe Paley, Diane Lane as Slim Keith, Calista Flockhart as Lee Radziwill, Demi Moore as Ann Woodward, Chloë Sevigny as C.Z. Guest, and Molly Ringwald as Joanne Carson.

They’re joined by Broadway star and director Joe Mantello as Jack Dunphy, Capote's partner, Russell Tovey as John O'Shea, and the late Treat Williams as Bill Paley.

When Does Feud: Capote vs. The Swans Premiere?

The series premieres Wednesday, January 31 at 10 p.m. ET/PT on FX and FXX. Episodes will stream the next day on Hulu.

Does Feud: Capote vs. The Swans Have a Trailer?

Yes! After FX released a teaser on December 21st, they put up the full-length trailer — set to Linda Ronstadt's thematically appropriate "You're No Good" — on January 3rd, offering among many dishy glimpses, the first footage of Tom Hollander as Capote.

Who's Writing and Directing Feud: Capote vs. The Swans?

Ryan Murphy is serving as executive producer, but playwright and screenwriter Jon Robin Baitz is writing all eight episodes of the series. Baitz wrote the plays The Substance of Fire and Other Desert Cities, created the ABC series Brothers & Sisters, and will also serve as scribe for the recently announced legal drama that Murphy is producing with star Kim Kardashian.

Gus Van Sant directs six of the eight episodes, including the premiere and finale. Murphy’s also recruited Max Winkler, who's helmed episodes of American Horror Story and The Watcher (and is also the son of Henry Winkler), and Boxing Helena director Jennifer Lynch (whose famous father famously loves Cheetos).

Who Was Truman Capote?

As a child growing up in Alabama, Capote was friends with Harper Lee, whose character Dill Harris in her novel To Kill a Mockingbird was said to be based on Capote. In 1958, he published the novella Breakfast at Tiffany's, and in 1966, he wrote the nonfiction novel In Cold Blood, about the murder of the Clutter family in Holcomb, Kansas. The films Capote (for which Philip Seymour Hoffman won the Academy Award) and Infamous are both about the writing of that book.

Though an obviously talented writer, Capote may have been an even better celebrity. He was openly gay, friendly with all the best society women, a great talk show guest, and maintained bitchy rivalries with the likes of Gore Vidal and Tennessee Williams.

Who Were The Swans?

The Swans, so named by Capote, were the group of wealthy society ladies of New York City he entertained with his stories (often embellished, if not entirely invented) and in return was brought into their confidence.

Babe Paley (Watts) was a socialite, Vogue editor, and fashion plate, married to Bill Paley, who was the President of CBS. Slim Keith (Lane) was another fashion icon who was once married to film director Howard Hawks and was pursued romantically by Clark Gable and Ernest Hemingway. C.Z. Guest was a wealthy socialite from Boston who married into the Churchill family. Lee Radziwill was the sister of First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy (and if her name sounds familiar, it may be because her daughter Carole used to be on The Real Housewives of New York City.

Socialite and former showgirl Ann Woodward, who was put on trial for allegedly murdering her husband, had a particularly contentious relationship with Capote. Capote confidante Joanne Carson (née Copeland) married Johnny Carson in 1963; after their divorce in 1972, she went on to host her own talk show. Capote famously edited the first chapter of her unfinished memoir.

All of these women had fortunes, connections, and secrets, and they bared them all to their gossipy gay friend Capote. That is, until the Answered Prayers controversy.

What Was the Answered Prayers Controversy?

Answered Prayers was Capote's great unfinished novel that he struggled to write after In Cold Blood. Chapters of the unfinished book were published in Esquire in the early '70s, including "La Côte Basque," which included many thinly veiled (and some not veiled at all) characterizations of his rich friends, including Babe and Bill Paley, and revealed scandalous and embarrassing details about their lives.

The reaction from most of the Swans was swift and severe, exiling Capote from their friend circle and from New York society. Capote would eventually spiral into self-destruction, and while he remained famous and notorious, he was never again allowed back into those rarefied circles.

What Happened to Feud: Charles vs. Diana?

The original plan for a second season of Feud was to focus on the crumbling marriage and eventual divorce of then-Prince Charles and Princess Diana. That season ended up suffering the same fate as the installment of American Crime Story centered on Hurricane Katrina that would've starred Annette Bening: lost to the dustbin of history.

Joe Reid is the senior writer at Primetimer and co-host of the This Had Oscar Buzz podcast. His work has appeared in Decider, NPR, HuffPost, The Atlantic, Slate, Polygon, Vanity Fair, Vulture, The A.V. Club and more.