Manhunt Creator On Untold Story Of Abraham Lincoln’s History & Casting Against-Type

The underexplored story of the hunt for Abraham Lincoln’s killer finally comes to life on screen in Manhunt. Partially based on the James L. Swanson novel of the same name, the Apple TV+ show takes a nonlinear approach to its story, utilizing flashbacks to show the months leading up to Lincoln’s assassination as he strove to end the Civil War and begin Reconstruction, as well as the 12-day pursuit of his killer, famous theater actor John Wilkes Booth, led by Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, who was also uncovering a deep conspiracy surrounding the murder.

Hamish Linklater, well-known for such projects as The Newsroom, Legion and Mike Flanagan’s Midnight Mass, stars in Manhunt as Lincoln, while The Crown alum Tobias Menzies portrays Stanton and Masters of the Air star Andrew Boyle plays Booth. Exploring everything from Lincoln’s status as a family man to Booth’s struggles to escape and create a legacy apart from his famous theater actor brother, the show is a haunting and thrilling affair.

In anticipation of the show’s release, Screen Rant participated in a roundtable interview with creator Monica Beletsky to discuss Manhunt, how she went about adapting both Swanson’s nonfiction novel and her own research, and the challenge of casting the right actors for the important historical figures the show explores.

Beletsky Was “Fascinated By How Much I Didn’t Know” About The Events Explored In The Show

Screen Rant: I’m very excited to chat with you, Monica, for this show. It’s beautiful from start to finish, and I love that it tells a part of Lincoln’s story that’s not often been told on screen. What was it about James L. Swanson’s novel, and the story as a whole, that really sparked your interest in wanting to bring it to life?

Monica Beletsky: Thank you so much. I really was fascinated by how much I didn’t know about the events surrounding the assassination. Once I learned that there were other attacks that night planned and executed, I sort of did a deep dive, and I stumbled across the figure of Edwin Stanton, played by Tobias Menzies, who was Lincoln’s Secretary of War. I was fascinated by the fact that from the moment Booth shot Lincoln, and he was unconscious till the next day, when Johnson became President. Essentially, we had no President for about 12 hours, and that fell on the shoulders of Edwin Stanton. So, that really fascinated me in terms of a heroic role.

And when I learned that he was also the person who was in charge of the investigation, and trying to piece together what was left of Lincoln’s mandate for Reconstruction, I thought he would be a great lead role. And then, at the same time, the rights to James Swanson’s book, which is a nonfiction book, was available. So, it was sort of a marriage between a detective cat-and-mouse thriller that I wanted to tell about the events, and having this trove of amazing research that James had done about the assassination night, and Booth’s escape and capture.

Karen Butler, UPI: What can you say about this story’s relevance in 2024? What do you want viewers to take away from it?

Monica Beletsky: I love noir, true crime murder mysteries. I think it’s hard to find a story where the true crime mystery is also socially relevant. And this story, to me, still has relevance today. It was sort of a sliding doors moment of losing Lincoln, and most of Lincoln’s second term, the assassination shaped the culture and what could have been. So, all of that fascinated me, and I feel like to understand the present, you really have to understand the past. And for whatever reasons, a lot of the story has been sort of put in the shadows, so it’s been really exciting to bring some of these unsung heroes to light, like Stanton, like Mary Simms.

Jamie Stalcup, World Screen / TV Drama: So a lot of historical series and period dramas shy away from color, or they’ll have some kind of sepia grayscale effect on them. But Manhunt isn’t like that, so I’d love to hear about what work went on to craft the sets and the costumes in a way that was historically accurate.

Monica Beletsky: Sure, I have an incredible production designer, her name is Chloe Arbiture. She designed over 200 sets for the show, and when we were doing our research and coming up with our palettes for different locations, what we realized — as well as with Katie Irish, the costume designer — is that this was pre-electronics, and pre-cinema, pre-color photography, and we were amazed at the patterns, and the colors of the gowns, of the wallpaper, of the drapes, of the rugs. Almost everything I would describe as almost gaudy at the time, we couldn’t believe there were actually fluorescent colors at the time. I didn’t know that.

How I came to understand it was that they had theater, they had music, and painting, but they didn’t have a lot of visual stimulation in the arts like we have now with screens. So, their clothing, their homes, that’s where they could express that stuff and have visual excitement, so we went with that. So, a lot of all of our wallpapers are period correct. I decided to have the women in colorful gowns, because that was period correct. But in the depictions of it, we’re so used to seeing it in black and white, that it’s not necessarily known. And one of the things we saw was the White House had green wallpaper, which fascinated us.

Menzies Brought “An Authenticity” To Manhunt‘s Period Setting

So, with how invested you were in telling Edwin Stanton’s story, what was the casting process like to find the perfect person to bring him to life? Because I think Tobias does a fantastic job in the role.

Monica Beletsky: There were a couple of things I was really looking for. One was the fact that Stanton is someone who, in real life, was really a behind-the-scenes kind of leader. I joke that he was like the showrunner of the Civil War. He was somebody who was very comfortable being a right hand to Lincoln, but then when the assassination happens, he’s thrust into being the leading man. I thought that that would be an interesting parallel to Tobias, because he’s been so well known as supporting, and now he’s stepping into these lead roles. So, I needed someone who could be convincing as both in making that transition, as well as the fact that I think there’s something about Tobias, when he’s in a story that takes place in the past, he just brings such an authenticity to it.

You just absolutely are convinced he’s from that time, so that was a huge asset. And then, I would just say, lastly, Tobias doesn’t share all the physical characteristics of the real Stanton, but he has such an innate sense of justice that Stanton also had, he was so ahead of his time with civil rights. I think Tobias looks for projects that have meaning beyond just entertaining people, and I feel the same way. I hope this show entertains people, but there’s also meaning behind it, and I think that we have that shared taste.

Karen Butler, UPI: What was it like casting Hamish and Lili as the Lincolns? What did you want to show about their relationship?

Monica Beletsky: I was so excited, they were drawn to the material. It’s not easy to find a 6’4″ actor like Hamish, who also happens to be incredibly perfect casting for the role. And Hamish has such a wit about him, naturally, which Lincoln had, and he has such heart and intelligence. So, it was just a thrill to have him on board. And then Lili, I also can’t imagine casting anyone more right for the part. She wasn’t a huge part of — neither of them are — the book or the investigation, obviously.

But I wanted to show the emotional consequence of losing this man, that our First Lady was essentially destitute because of the assassination. At the time, she was jobless, had nowhere to go, so that really fascinated me. But for the audience, I wanted to show the personal impact on their family, and what they were like in the White House, and what we lost because of the crime.

Jamie Stalcup, World Screen / TV Drama: In terms of the filming locations, I know some sets had to be built, like the outside of Ford’s Theater, but there were some where you got to film in historical locations, like Sherman’s headquarters. What was that like, and what does it lend to the storytelling to be able to be in those actual locations where the events took place?

Monica Beletsky: That was such an incredible thing. I did not realize Sherman’s base was in Savannah, where we were filming. When I was looking for locations, they were actually just showing it to us as a location that could be anything, and as I was getting ready, I looked in the park and there was one of those blue signs, and it said, “Here’s the place where Edwin Stanton made the contract with Sherman for field order 15,” which is the 40 acres and a mule Reconstruction deal. I just got chills, I just couldn’t believe — I’m gonna tear up — it was right there.

And almost no one’s ever even heard of Stanton, and that it happened right there, so the fact that we were able to film there, I was so happy to get that scene into the show, because it’s not directly part of the investigation. But it’s so important to me to show the audience what was at stake and what was lost when we lost Lincoln. So that was very moving on the day to be in that space.

Beletsky & Director Carl Franklin Had Clear Visions For Casting Against-Type Actors

Last quick casting question from me, I love that you brought in a couple of comedy heavies with Patton Oswalt and Matt Walsh in these very dramatic roles. What was the thought process there of having them play sort of against-type?

Monica Beletsky: With Matt, that is a drama role in Dr. Mudd, and that was a collaboration between the director, Carl Franklin, and I, where we discussed who we wanted Dr. Mudd to be. We both felt that he should be someone who was very clearly your trusted neighbor, or someone who would deliver your baby. Because he ends up being in the trial, and we wanted it to feel like really high stakes for someone like Mary Simms to testify against him, because he’s so likable, you know, and Matt really brings that sort of everyday guy who you might live next door to in tone to that, where it would feel really hard to believe that he was capable of cruelty.

So that was that, and then Patton’s character is not all dramatic. I would say, the role of Detective Baker, he was a compulsive liar. He was someone that Stanton relied on, because his techniques and his resources were so good, and he was very advanced in his time at detective work, but he wasn’t the most trustworthy individual. He was a bit of a conspiracy theorist, he was a bit of an eccentric, so I immediately thought of Patton and just thought he would be able to bring in a lot of those qualities. I really just feel like life is not all drama, or all comedy. People have personalities now and then, so I enjoyed them as sort of foils.

Karen Butler, UPI: What can you say about the pacing of this, because you’re dealing with historical authenticity, but you also have a great piece of entertainment. What was it like striking that balance?

Monica Beletsky: I was lucky enough to work on the scripts for like a year and a half. So, I had a lot of time to go over and over them. But I would say that what was important to me was that it was a true-crime story, a murder mystery first, and then it just happens to take place in the past. So, that’s the angle I went through, rather than how is this historical, and how is this a crime show? I really looked at it as a crime show that happens to be set in the 19th century.

Jamie Stalcup, World Screen / TV Drama: So, I know James L. Swanson’s book was a jumping off point for the series, but what other kinds of source materials did you consult to get the characters as accurate as possible to their real life counterparts?

Monica Beletsky: So, there’s a transcript of the conspirators trial that’s about 1000 pages, but we have it on record, all the testimony. So many of the characters I found in the trial, and I knew that I wanted to arc the show to the trial. So, it was about working myself backwards, because I knew I wanted certain emotional payoffs with those characters. So, it was a question of how to set those figures up earlier, and show their journey so that when we get there, it’s meaningful to the audience. But Elizabeth Keckley, who is played by Betty Gabriel, she was Mary Todd Lincoln’s gown designer, and she wrote an autobiography about her time in the White House, and apparently some of the scenes that she writes about the Lincolns we would not know about had she not documented it. So, that was really interesting too. And it was important for me to find a way to show her in the story, as well.

About Manhunt

Based on the New York Times bestselling and Edgar Award-winning nonfiction book from author James L. Swanson, “Manhunt” is a conspiracy thriller about one of the best known but least understood crimes in history, the astonishing story of the hunt for John Wilkes Booth in the aftermath of Abraham Lincoln’s assassination.

Check out our other Manhunt interview with star Hamish Linklater.

Manhunt begins streaming on Apple TV+ on Friday, March 15.