“#SkyKing,” a feature-length documentary that tells the story of airline worker Richard ‘Beebo’ Russell, will premiere on Hulu on April 14. The documentary is set to make its world premiere at the upcoming SXSW 2026.
In August 2018, 28-year-old Horizon Air ground service agent Russell shocked the world — and those who knew him — when he stole a commercial plane and embarked on a 70-minute journey that ultimately ended in his death. It was a story many major networks and production companies sought out, though it was with director Patricia E. Gillespie that the Russell family opened their doors to five years ago. In the time since, Gillespie has worked closely with Russell’s mother and the rest of the family to navigate not just the grief but the weight of public misunderstanding — and how Russell’s story came to “embody the hopes, dreams and despair of the American working class,” reads the documentary’s official logline.
To Gillespie, “#SkyKing” is “both personal and political, an urgent attempt to reclaim working class humanity from caricature, to restore complexity to those left behind and to bridge the empathy gap between how we live, how we are seen and who we truly are. In the end, #SkyKing stands as an act of witness and restoration, a reminder that every voice, no matter how briefly heard, carries the full weight of a life worth understanding.”
In “#SkyKing,” Russell’s family members are sharing their stories for the first time. Voices in the documentary also include Colleen, the now-retired ATC supervisor who managed the situation that day, Russell’s childhood best friend Chris and his Horizon Air coworker Andreas. Never-before-heard air traffic control audio of Russell’s conversation with those on the ground run throughout “#SkyKing.”
“#SkyKing” is produced by Fifth Season and its newly formed nonscripted and documentary production company, Quite Contrary Pictures, for ABC News Studios. Gillespie serves as producer alongside Christopher G. Cowen. Mary Lisio serves as executive producer, as does Claire Weinraub and David Sloan, who is the senior executive producer for ABC News Studios.
