Franklin Sneak Peek: Michael Douglas’ Ben Franklin Uses Chess to Teach Life Lessons (and Plot His Next Move)

Chess is a metaphor for life… and Benjamin Franklin is already thinking two moves ahead.

Michael Douglas stars as the legendary Founding Father in Apple TV+’s new limited series Franklin (debuting this Friday on the streamer), and TVLine has an exclusive sneak peek at the premiere, with Douglas’ Franklin sitting down for a game of chess with his grandson Temple, played by The Undoing’s Noah Jupe. In the clip, Franklin tells Temple that “chess teaches a great deal of useful skills,” including the ability to “always think several moves ahead.”

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But he has more than the game on his mind: Franklin asks his grandson about a young French girl he’s been seeing during their stay. In fact, Franklin has shared “some pleasant moments” with the girl’s mother as well, he confesses. And now they’ve been invited to stay with a friend who lives right next door to the girl and her mother, which would be awfully convenient. “You’re up to something,” Temple decides, and Franklin insists he is only trying to convince the French to deliver military supplies to the United States. But Temple thinks this has more to do those “pleasant moments” his grandfather mentioned.

Set in December 1776 during the Revolutionary War, Franklin follows Benjamin Franklin as he “embarks on a secret mission to France” to use his diplomatic skills to get the French to take America’s side in their war against the British “as the fate of American independence hangs in the balance,” per the official description.

Press PLAY above for an exclusive sneak peek at Franklin, and then hit the comments and tell us: Will you be watching?

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