Hamish Linklater, Lili Taylor to Play Abraham and Mary Lincoln for Apple TV+

Apple TV+’s limited series about the hunt for Abraham Lincoln’s assassin has cast the 16th president.

Hamish Linklater (Gaslit, Netflix’s Midnight Mass) will play Abraham Lincoln in Manhunt, about the search for John Wilkes Booth after he shot Lincoln. Lili Taylor will play the first lady, Mary Lincoln.

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Linklater and Taylor are among seven actors boarding the series; Brandon Flynn, Betty Gabriel, Will Harrison, Damian O’Hare and Patton Oswalt have also been cast. They join the previously cast Tobias Menzies, Anthony Boyle, Lovie Simone and Matt Walsh.

Manhunt — not to be confused with the Discovery/Spectrum Originals anthology series of the same name — is described as a true crime series that delves into the shocking events and aftermath of Lincoln’s assassination in 1865. It’s based on James Swanson’s book Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln’s Killer.

Menzies (The Crown) stars as Edwin Stanton, Lincoln’s secretary of war and close friend who was nearly driven mad in his zeal to catch booth and carry out Lincoln’s Reconstruction plans after the Civil War. Boyle (Apple’s Masters of the Air) plays Booth. Simone plays Mary Simms, a former slave of Dr. Samuel Mudd (Walsh), who treated Booth’s broken leg after the assassin fled Washington.

Flynn (13 Reasons Why) will play Eddie Stanton Jr., Stanton’s son and a clerk in the War Department. Gabriel (Get Out) plays Elizabeth “Lizzie” Keckley, a famous fashion designer and friend of Mary Lincoln’s. Harrison (Daisy Jones & the Six) plays Booth’s accomplice David Herold. O’Hare (Pirates of the Caribbean) plays Thomas Eckert, Stanton’s right hand man. Oswalt (The Conners, Gaslit) plays Detective Lafayette Baker, a War Department investigator.

Monica Beletsky (Fargo, Friday Night Lights), who has an overall deal with Apple, is the creator and showrunner of Manhunt. She executive produces with director Carl Franklin; Layne Eskridge of POV Entertainment; author Swanson; Michael Rotenberg and Richard Abate of 3 Arts Entertainment; and Frank Smith and Naia Cucukov of Walden Media. Apple Studios produces with Lionsgate, POV, 3 Arts and Walden Media.

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Linklater is repped by ICM Partners, Untitled Entertainment and attorney Tara Kole; Taylor by Untitled Entertainment and APA; Flynn by UTA, Untitled Entertainment and Schreck Rose; Gabriel by ICM Partners, Untitled Entertainment and Jackoway Austen; Harrison by Gersh and Industry Entertainment; O’Hare by Buchwaled and NB Management; and Oswalt by UTA, Independent Artists Media and Jackoway Austen.

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