Just over a month after the Lionsgate-owned network acquired the series, Starz’ Watergate drama series Gaslit has expanded its cast with the addition of Dan Stevens (The Guest, The Rental), who joins previously cast Julia Roberts (Homecoming) and Sean Penn (Milk), according to Variety.
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The 38-year-old actor is set to star as John Dean, the young White House Counsel who finds himself torn between his ambition and his struggle over whether he can lie to protect the President amidst the notorious scandal. The role was previously set to be played by Armie Hammer (The Lone Ranger), though February’s series order announcement confirmed both he and Joel Edgerton (Boy Erased), who was set to star as former FBI agent and chief operative of Nixon’s White House Plumbers unit G. Gordon Liddy, would be recast.
Based on Slate’s award-winning podcast Slow Burn, the first season is being developed by Robbie Pickering (Mr. Robot) as a modern take on Watergate that will focus on Martha Mitchell (Roberts), Arkansan socialite and wife to Nixon’s loyal Attorney General John Mitchell (Penn), described as a big personality with an even bigger mouth as she becomes the first person to publicly sound the alarm on Nixon’s involvement in the scandal, causing both her life and his presidency to crumble.
The drama will explore the other untold stories and forgotten characters of the notorious chapter in American history, including Nixon’s bumbling, opportunistic subordinates, deranged zealots aiding and abetting their crimes and the tragic whistleblowers who would bring the whole rotten enterprise crashing down.
Pickering is set to executive produce the series alongside director Matt Ross (Captain Fantastic), Sam Esmail (Mr. Robot) under his overall deal with UCP and Chad Hamilton (Mr. Robot) under their Esmail Corp. production banner, Roberts via her Red Om Films label, Anonymous Content and Slate’s Gabriel Roth and Josh Levin. The project marks a reunion between Esmail and Roberts after the two worked together on the Golden Globe-nominated first season of Amazon’s Homecoming.
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Gaslit will mark Stevens’ first major return to live-action television after leading Noah Hawley’s acclaimed Marvel series Legion at FX for three seasons from 2017-19.
(Photo Credit: Greg Doherty/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images)
