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Tobias Menzies is going back in history again.
The Crown Emmy winner will lead the cast of Manhunt, a straight-to-series limited drama exploring the assassination of former President Abraham Lincoln. The series, from creator Monica Beletsky (Parenthood, The Leftovers, Fargo), is described as part historical fiction and part conspiracy thriller.
Based on the best-selling book Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln’s Killer by James Swanson, Manhunt follows Lincoln’s war secretary and friend Edwin Stanton (Menzies), who was nearly driven to madness by his quest to catch assassin John Wilkes Booth and carry out Lincoln’s legacy.
Beletsky serves as showrunner and exec producer on the series, which marks her first as a creator and stems from her recently renewed overall deal with Apple. The series is produced in-house at Apple Studios with Lionsgate, POV Entertainment, Walden Media and 3 Arts Entertainment. Exec producers inclue Layne Eskridge, Swanson, Michael Rotenberg, Richard Abate, Frank Smith and Naia Cucukov. Carl Franklin (Mindhunter, Devil in a Blue Dress) will direct and exec produce.
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The series will also feature Black historical figures whose lives intertwined with Booth’s escape, the manhunt and subsequent investigation, with characters set to include Mary Simms, a former slave of the doctor who treated Booth’s injury and provided him safe harbor following his crime.
Manhunt, not to be confused with the former Discovery/Spectrum anthology of the same name, is part of a scripted roster at Apple that also includes WeCrashed, The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey, Masters of the Air, High Desert, City on Fire and several others as Apple continues to spend big bucks on premium packages featuring bankable stars.
Menzies, who earned Emmy gold for his role as Prince Philip in Netflix’s The Crown, also counts Starz’s Outlander, HBO’s Game of Thrones and AMC’s The Terror among his credits. He’s repped by WME and Conway Van Gelder Grant in the U.K.
Beletsky, who started her career on Lost, also counts Friday Night Lights and I Am the Night among her credits. She’s with attorney Tara S. Kole.
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