Starz reveals a full length trailer and key art of their upcoming drama series Gaslit.
The limited series Gaslit will be set in the 70s, during the political upheaval of the Watergate scandal and it was adapted from Leon Neyfakh’s acclaimed “Slow Burn” homonymous podcast about one of the political scandals with most repercussions in the history of the United States.
The show promises to offer an updated look of the episode that erupted when five people were arrested in June of 1972 while committing a robbery at the offices of the National Committee of the Democratic Party, located in the Watergate complex. The scandal finally brought down Nixon’s presidency.
Sean Penn, characterized with outstanding makeup work, plays John N. Mitchell, White House Attorney General and personal friend to then-president Richard Nixon. Julia Roberts portrays his wife, Martha, the first person to publicly denounce the Watergate scandal.
At that time, Martha Mitchell was a prominent socialité and a big personality in political circles, well known for her extroversion. But when she started to denounce the government she was persecuted and threatened for her accusations. They tried to discredit her and make her look like nothing more than a simple woman who wanted attention and enjoyed walking around the television studios. The true story will be told mainly from her perspective.
The show also stars Dan Stevens as John Dean, Betty Gilpin as Mo Dean, Shea Whigham as G. Gordon Liddy and Darby Camp as Marty Mitchell.
Asked about the writing process, Pickering talked about how they chose to focus on the depth of the humans behind the story: “In the writers’ room we really weren’t interested in a Wikipedia run down of the events as much as we were hyper interested in the truth of the characters. That you can’t get from the history books, that’s a special province of television,”
According to the official synopsis, the series is a “modern take on Watergate that focuses on the untold stories and forgotten characters of the scandal—from Nixon’s bumbling and opportunistic subordinates to the deranged zealots aiding and abetting their crimes to the tragic whistleblowers who would eventually bring the whole rotten enterprise crashing down.”
Gaslit, created and executive produced by Robbie Pickering will officially premiere on Sunday, April 24 on Starz and Starzplay.
Watch the full trailer:
