Josh Holloway and Rachel Hilson in the new period crime series, Duster. The show gets a special preview, complete with cast and crew Q&A, at this year’s ATX TV Festival. Credit: Image Courtesy of Max

ATX TV Festival’s guide gets even more packed this morning with news that audiences will be hitting the road for a preview screening of Duster, the new show for Max from co-creators/executive producers/writers LaToya Morgan and J.J. Abrams.

The 1970s period crime show stars Josh Holloway as a getaway driver for a gang in the Southwest who finds himself caught in the middle when the first Black FBI agent (Rachel Hilson) recruits him to take down his own brutal and dangerous boss (Keith David). The screening of the episode will be followed by a cast and crew Q&A with series creator Morgan, and stars Holloway, Hilson, David, and Asivak Koostachin.

Duster won’t be the only Max show at ATX (May 29-June 1). There will also be a special panel presented by HBO and Max about The Gilded Age, with stars Carrie Coon, Christine Baranski, and Morgan Spector discussing the glamour and betrayal of the show, and previewing season 3.

And if we’re talking prestige TV, it doesn’t get much more prestigious than the multi-Emmy-winning Mad Men. The festival already announced a special panel for the 10-year anniversary of the show finale with Jon Hamm. Now he’ll be joined by co-star John Slattery in an event moderated by Emmy-winning writer/director and newly-minted Texas Film Hall of Fame inductee Noah Hawley (Fargo, Alien: Earth).

Speaking of filling out the lineup, festival regular Bill Lawrence was added to the roster back in December for the return of his beloved Bill Lawrence & Friends. Now we know who the friends will be: Ted Lasso star and Shrinking star and co-creator Brett Goldstein, and another ATX regular and a man whose career has almost become synonymous with Lawrence, Scrubs star and Scrubs, Ted Lasso, and Shrinking director Zach Braff. And if you’re still craving more therapy time, there’ll also be a special Inside the Writers Room panel dedicated to Shrinking with Rachna Fruchbom, Brian Gallivan, Neil Goldman, Bill Posley, Ashley Nicole Black, Sofi Selig, and Zack Bornstein.

ATX TV Festival 2025 will run May 29-June 1. Passes are available at atxfestival.com.

This article appears in May 2 • 2025.

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The Chronicle's first Culture Desk editor, Richard has reported on Austin's growing film production and appreciation scene for over a decade. A graduate of the universities of York, Stirling, and UT-Austin, a Rotten Tomatoes certified critic, and eight-time Best of Austin winner, he's currently at work on two books and a play.