# Feud: Capote vs. The Swans

Feud: Capote vs. The Swans is the second season of the American anthology television series Feud created by Ryan Murphy, Jaffe Cohen, and Michael Zam for FX. Directed by Gus Van Sant, Max Winkler, and Jennifer Lynch, it is written by Jon Robin Baitz. The eight-episode season is based on the book Capote's Women: A True Story of Love, Betrayal, and a Swan Song for an Era written by Laurence Leamer. Its first two episodes premiered on January 31, 2024, with episodes available on Hulu the day after broadcast on FX.

## Premise

Acclaimed writer Truman Capote ruins his friendships with the Swans, a socialite group of New York City high society, by writing a thinly veiled fictionalized account of their scandalous and hedonistic lives in his (ultimately unfinished) novel, Answered Prayers. When Esquire publishes the chapter "La Côte Basque 1965", after the restaurant of the same name frequented by the Swans and Capote himself, several vow to ruin his life in revenge.

## Cast
### Main

* Naomi Watts as Babe Paley
* Diane Lane as Slim Keith
* Chloë Sevigny as C. Z. Guest
* Calista Flockhart as Lee Radziwill
* Demi Moore as Ann Woodward
* Molly Ringwald as Joanne Carson
* Treat Williams as Bill Paley
* Joe Mantello as Jack Dunphy
* Russell Tovey as John O'Shea
* Tom Hollander as Truman Capote

### Recurring

* Jessica Lange as Lillie Mae Faulk, Capote's mother
* Ella Beatty as Kerry O'Shea
* Roya Shanks as Louisa Firth
* Jamie Askew as Jennifer Jones
* Scott Zimmerman as David Selznick

### Guest

* Rebecca Creskoff as Happy Rockefeller
* David Healy as Nelson Rockefeller
* Daniel Adaro as Chris O'Shea
* Tom Stratford as Bill Blass
* Marin Ireland as Katharine Graham
* Alison Wright as Pamela Harriman
* Pawel Szajda as Albert Maysles
* Yuval David as David Maysles
* Chris Chalk as James Baldwin
* Charlotte Cronin as Cornelia Guest
* Jeffrey Grover as Richard Avedon
* Dennis Staroselsky as Stanley Siegel
* Jessica DiGiovani as Kate Paley
* Dan Cordle as Joe Capote

## Episodes

| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original release date | Prod. code | U.S. viewers (millions) |
| 9 | 1 | "Pilot" | Gus Van Sant | Jon Robin Baitz | January 31, 2024 (2024-01-31) | 3WBB01 | 0.461 |
| In 1968, Babe Paley tells Truman Capote that her husband Bill is having an affair. In 1955, Truman accompanies the Paleys and film producer David O. Selznick on a trip to Montego Bay, during which he charms them with witticisms and an outrageous story that Ann Woodward murdered her husband. After dinner, Babe tells Truman about her husband's affairs, which he tells her to use to her advantage. In 1975, Truman meets banker John O'Shea in a bathhouse and takes him to lunch with Babe, Slim Keith, and C. Z. Guest at La Côte Basque. Ann confronts Truman, but he is unmoved. O'Shea suggests Truman use his friends' lives as inspiration for his next novel, Answered Prayers. Despite attempts to dissuade him by Jack Dunphy, Truman's erstwhile partner, an excerpt is published in Esquire, with many recognizing it as a thinly veiled attack. Babe tells Bill she has been diagnosed with cancer. While lunching with Babe, Slim reveals Ann committed suicide before the excerpt's publication and suggests exacting revenge on Truman. ||||||||
| 10 | 2 | "Ice Water in Their Veins" | Gus Van Sant | Jon Robin Baitz | January 31, 2024 (2024-01-31) | 3WBB02 | 0.263 |
| A few months following the scandalous article being published, Truman's downward spiral begins. Following Ann's suicide, the Swans decide to present a unified front as they set in motion a plan of revenge against Truman. ||||||||
| 11 | 3 | "Masquerade 1966" | Gus Van Sant | Jon Robin Baitz | February 7, 2024 (2024-2-7) | 3WBB03 | 0.298 |
| In a documentary of 1966, Capote has cameras filming as he sets up for a Masquerade. Despite various times asking to not have their private issues shown on camera, the camera crew continues filming. In the background, Capote claims to be inviting a special guest, causing the women to guess unsuccessfully the identity. At the party, Ann Woodward and her son party crash with her wanting him to stop his smear campaign. At the end of the evening, Capote hallucinates dancing with his deceased mother. ||||||||
| 12 | 4 | "It's Impossible" | Gus Van Sant | Jon Robin Baitz | February 14, 2024 (2024-2-14) | 3WBB04 | 0.259 |
| Babe continues her radiation therapy at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, but receives unfortunate news about its progress. As she faces a harsh reality, Babe forgives her husband of his indiscretions and hints at forgiving Truman to the dismay of Slim. Slim tries to slander Truman in the press while the rest of the Swans discourage her efforts. Truman completes his stint at rehab, but quickly relapses and returns to John O'Shea and his old habits. ||||||||
| 13 | 5 | "The Secret Inner Lives of Swans" | Max Winkler | Jon Robin Baitz | February 21, 2024 (2024-2-21) | 3WBB05 | 0.342 |
| In 1975, Babe reads the Esquire article and argues with Bill about his lack of discretion in choosing his lovers. Despondent from a conversation with Bill Paley, Truman tries to commit suicide. He receives a phone call from James Baldwin, with whom he is acquainted, and James invites him to lunch at La Côte Basque. James offers Truman emotional support and encourages him to get sober. As they discuss behaviors of wild swans and compare them to the negative and hurtful behaviors of Truman's Swans, Truman recalls salacious details he did not include in the article. Truman awakens the next day (from his suicide attempt) in the same clothes he wore before the day with Baldwin, implying that the meeting has been a dream, and continues writing his book. That evening after telling Jack this is his best writing ever, he eats a roasted swan by candlelight. ||||||||
| 14 | 6 | "Hats, Gloves and Effete Homosexuals" | Gus Van Sant | Jon Robin Baitz | February 28, 2024 (2024-2-28) | 3WBB06 | 0.281 |
| Truman advises the professional styling of Kate Harrington, the daughter of John O'Shea who he has taken under his wing as a protégé, and pressures her to mimic the look of Babe for her upcoming photoshoot with Richard Avedon. Both Lee and Dick encourage Kate to not allow Truman to control her image. Kate loves and admires Truman, but grows disillusioned with his irresponsible lifestyle and resumed alcoholism. Meanwhile, both Truman and the Swans struggle with their advancing ages and fading relevance in the social scene as their favorite stores and fashions become outdated. Truman takes a boorish repairman as a brief lover, only to find the affair unfulfilling. Entrenched in the threat of a lawsuit from Gore Vidal, who he had defamed on television, Truman elects to undergo plastic surgery and later resumes writing, wistfully recalling happier times with the Swans. ||||||||
| 15 | 7 | "Beautiful Babe" | Jennifer Lynch | Jon Robin Baitz | March 6, 2024 (2024-3-6) | 3WBB07 | 0.297 |
| An increasingly frail Babe learns that she has only six months to live and makes peace with her mortality. She dies in the summer, surrounded by her family, and has a dying vision of reuniting with Truman, whom she praises as being one of the greatest and most important relationships in her life. The Swans attend her funeral, from which Truman has been banned, and begin to go their separate ways. Truman, grieving Babe and regretting their failure to reconcile, slips further into alcoholism and drug abuse, culminating in a disastrous and incoherent appearance on Stanley Siegel's talk show. Jack cuts ties with him and leaves him with Joanne Carson, Truman's only remaining friend. Joanne tries to support Truman's writing efforts, but Truman instead continues to drink heavily as his health declines. He hallucinates Babe comforting him as he dies of organ failure, and Joanne informs Jack that Truman's final words were "Beautiful Babe". ||||||||
| 16 | 8 | "Phantasm Forgiveness" | Gus Van Sant | Jon Robin Baitz | March 13, 2024 (2024-3-13) | 3WBB08 | 0.307 |
| In 1984, Truman visits Babe's grave and lies down on top of it, longing to be reunited. He later visits Jack's apartment while pursuing sobriety, and the two reconcile and part ways as Truman vows to finish Answered Prayers as an apology to his former friends. As he writes, he envisions himself reconciling with the Swans by selflessly granting their deepest wishes. Between chapters, he has a vision of his combative mother, which drives him back to drinking and using drugs. During one such episode, he recalls her suicide, and hallucinates Ann, who informs him that Answered Prayers will never restore his friendships, as he wrote it with the intent of destroying high society out of revenge for himself and his shunned mother. He destroys the completed manuscript in secret and departs for his final stay with Joanne. In 2016, Truman's ashes are sold at auction for $45,000 (with Kate Harrington in attendance) as the ghosts of the Swans critique the proceedings. ||||||||

## Production
### Development

FX renewed the Feud series for a second season in February 2017, with Ryan Murphy and Jon Robin Baitz attached as writers, with an initial focus on the relationship between the then Charles, Prince of Wales and Diana, Princess of Wales.
By April 2022, the focus had shifted onto Truman Capote and his tempestuous relationship with New York high society with Gus Van Sant on board to direct and Naomi Watts attached to star.
Baitz adapted the bestselling book Capote's Women by Laurence Leamer for the series. Executive producers on the series include Murphy, Alexis Martin Woodall, Baitz, Van Sant, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, Watts, Eric Kovtun, and Scott Robertson.
It was the last project of Treat Williams before his death in 2023.

### Casting

In August 2022, Tom Hollander was cast as Truman Capote with the cast also including Diane Lane and Calista Flockhart. In September 2022, Demi Moore joined the cast.

### Filming

Filming began in New York in the autumn of 2022.

## Release

The first two episodes of the season premiered on January 31, 2024, with episodes available on Hulu the following day. Internationally, the series will be available on Disney+ through Star and on Star+ in Latin America.

## Reception
### Streaming viewership

Feud: Capote vs. The Swans debuted at No. 1 on Hulu's "Top 15 Today"—a daily updated list of the platform's most-watched titles—on its first full day of release. JustWatch, a guide to streaming content with access to data from more than 20 million users around the world, estimated that the show was the sixth most-streamed series in the U.S. for the week of February 5–11. The streaming aggregator Reelgood, which monitors real-time data from 5 million users in the U.S. for original and acquired streaming programs and movies across subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) and ad-supported video-on-demand (AVOD) services, calculated that the series was the eighth most-streamed television show in the U.S. during the week of February 4. It climbed to the third most-streamed show the following week, before moving to the ninth spot by February 21.

### Critical response

On Rotten Tomatoes, Feud: Capote vs. The Swans holds an approval rating of 77% based on 64 reviews. The website's critics consensus reads, "While this Feud might lack the abundance of incident that made its predecessor such a nasty delight, Capote vs. the Swans' luxe milieu and dynamite ensemble will keep spectators entertained." On Metacritic, the season has a weighted average score of 68 out of 100, based on 33 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.
David Bianculli of NPR praised the season, concluding that Capote vs. the Swans merits attention for its quality. Bianculli described it as a strong drama with a compelling story and a powerhouse cast, noting that the actors deliver particularly powerful performances in this installment of Feud. Alison Herman of Variety commended the show's portrayal of the "complex, enduring, often co-dependent bond between straight women and gay men." Herman described the series as a sincere and moving exploration of this dynamic, a rarity treated with empathy and depth. Herman noted that this unique focus helps make the show's flaws more forgivable, viewing them as part of its ambitious storytelling. Benjamin Lee of The Guardian awarded Capote vs. the Swans four out of five stars and praised it for its thoughtful approach, crediting the shift away from Charles and Diana. Lee commended the performances of Tom Hollander, Naomi Watts, and Chloë Sevigny, as well as the show's exploration of the emotional toll on high society figures. While the expected cattiness is present, Lee found the series more focused on the poignant relationships between Capote and his female friends. Despite some minor flaws in pacing, Lee concluded that the second season surpasses the first by emphasizing melancholy over meanness. Carol Midgley of The Sunday Times awarded Capote vs. the Swans four out of five stars and found it to be a visually stunning and sharply written series that, while too long at nearly eight hours, is elevated by Tom Hollander's mesmerizing portrayal of Truman Capote. Hollander's performance, marked by his convincing physical transformation and voice work, captures Capote's descent into alcoholism, drug abuse, and self-destruction. Midgley also praised Naomi Watts as Babe Paley, highlighting the cast's strong performances. Though the series explores rich people's self-obsession, Midgley found that Hollander's nuanced portrayal brings depth and pathos to Capote’s tragic decline. Emma Fraser of IGN rated Capote vs. The Swans eight out of ten, praising the actors' performances, particularly that of Hollander. Fraser also complimented the show's costumes and production design, describing it as a "delicious cautionary tale of writing.
Jackson McHenry of Vulture noted that Capote vs. the Swans offers plenty of surface-level details about Capote, highlighting his public persona, but struggles to delve into his creative inner life. McHenry observed that while the show delivers on the cattiness, glamour, and intriguing facts—such as Capote serving spaghetti and chicken hash with champagne—it falls short in providing deeper insight into why Capote's social circle was so groundbreaking or how 1960s society was evolving during that time. Melanie McFarland of Salon observed that the female characters in Baitz's script lacked depth, noting that the writing focuses heavily on one layer of the women's interiority, primarily portraying their vindictiveness, prejudice, or selfishness, without suggesting deeper dimensions. She also critiqued comparisons made by FX and the show to The Real Housewives franchise, arguing that this comparison undermines the cast's efforts. McFarland pointed out that while Bravo's housewives may appear as shallow as Capote’s socialites, Andy Cohen excels at turning problematic personalities into captivating spectacles. In contrast, Baitz and the cast overwork the characters, making them appear rigid rather than allowing them the flexibility to be authentically wicked.

## Accolades

| Year | Award | Category | Nominee(s) | Result |
| 2024 | Dorian TV Awards | Campiest TV Show | Feud: Capote vs. The Swans | Nominated |
| 2024 | Dorian TV Awards | Best TV Movie or Limited Series | Feud: Capote vs. The Swans | Nominated |
| 2024 | Dorian TV Awards | Best TV Performance - Drama | Tom Hollander | Nominated |
| 2024 | Location Managers Guild Awards | Outstanding Locations in a TV Serial Program, Anthology, MOW, or Limited Series | Feud: Capote vs. The Swans | Nominated |
| 2024 | Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards | Outstanding Original Main Title Theme Music | Feud: Capote vs. The Swans | Nominated |
| 2024 | Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards | Outstanding Hairstyling | Feud: Capote vs. The Swans | Nominated |
| 2024 | Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards | Outstanding Casting for a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie | Feud: Capote vs. The Swans | Nominated |
| 2024 | Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards | Outstanding Makeup (Non-Prosthetic) | Feud: Capote vs. The Swans | Nominated |
| 2024 | Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards | Outstanding Period Costumes | Feud: Capote vs. The Swans | Won |
| 2024 | Primetime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Directing for a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie | Gus Van Sant | Nominated |
| 2024 | Primetime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie | Tom Hollander | Nominated |
| 2024 | Primetime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie | Naomi Watts | Nominated |
| 2024 | Primetime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie | Treat Williams | Nominated |
| 2024 | Primetime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie | Diane Lane | Nominated |
| 2024 | Hollywood Music in Media Awards | Original Score – TV Show/Limited Series | Julia Newman | Nominated |
| 2024 | Set Decorators Society of America Awards | Best Achievement in Décor/Design of a One Hour Period Series | Cherish M. Hale, Kathy Orlando, Mark Ricker | Nominated |
| 2025 | Artios Awards | Outstanding Achievement in Casting – Limited Series | Alexa L. Fogel, Kathryn Zamora-Benson | Nominated |
| 2025 | Costume Designers Guild Awards | Excellence in Period Television | Lou Eyrich and Rudy Mance (for "Hats, Gloves and Effete Homosexuals") | Nominated |
| 2025 | Critics' Choice Awards | Best Actor in a Movie/Miniseries | Tom Hollander | Nominated |
| 2025 | Critics' Choice Awards | Best Actress in a Movie/ Miniseries | Naomi Watts | Nominated |
| 2025 | Critics' Choice Awards | Best Supporting Actor in a Movie/Miniseries | Treat Williams | Nominated |
| 2025 | Make-Up Artists and Hair Stylists Guild Awards | Best Period and/or Character Make-Up in a Television Series, Television Limited or Miniseries or Television New Media Series | Jackie Risotto, Kristen Alimena, Christine Hooghuis, Kyra Panchenko, Emily Marroquin | Nominated |
| 2025 | Make-Up Artists and Hair Stylists Guild Awards | Best Period and/or Character Hair Styling in a Television Series, Television Limited or Miniseries or Television New Media Series | Sean Flanigan, Chris Clark, Josh Gericke, Kevin Maybee | Nominated |
| 2025 | Satellite Awards | Best Miniseries & Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television | Feud: Capote vs. The Swans | Nominated |
| 2025 | Satellite Awards | Best Actor in a Miniseries, Limited Series, or Motion Picture Made for Television | Tom Hollander | Nominated |
| 2025 | Satellite Awards | Best Actress in a Miniseries, Limited Series, or Motion Picture Made for Television | Naomi Watts | Nominated |
| 2025 | Satellite Awards | Best Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Miniseries & Limited Series, or Motion Picture Made for Television | Diane Lane | Won |
| 2025 | Satellite Awards | Best Ensemble: Television Series | Feud: Capote vs. The Swans | Won |