Based on The New York Times bestselling and Edgar Award-winning nonfiction book Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln’s Killer by author James L. Swanson, Manhunt is a conspiracy thriller about one of the best-known but least-understood crimes in history.

Inside the Lincoln Conspiracy

The series tells the astonishing story of the hunt for John Wilkes Booth after Abraham Lincoln’s assassination, alongside Tobias Menzies, Anthony Boyle, Lovie Simone, Will Harrison, Brandon Flynn, Damian O’Hare, Glenn Morshower, Patton Oswalt, Matt Walsh, and Hamish Linklater.

Themes of Justice, Power, and Revenge

Menzies plays Edwin Stanton, Lincoln’s Secretary of War, who leads the nationwide hunt while trying to protect the former president’s vision for Reconstruction. The political tensions are high, dividing America after the Civil War.

The Assassination That Changed America

Highlights include lesser-known historical figures, such as Black Americans whose lives intertwined with the investigation. Also, the aftermath of Lincoln’s death. Menzies and Boyle are exceptional in the series, while mixing historical fact with storytelling.