The era of true crime podcasts, with stories of political intrigue and abuses of power, continues to sweep the nation. “Gaslit,” an upcoming limited series from Starz, looks to give another glimpse at one of the most disruptive events in American history: Watergate.
Adapted from the first season of the Slate podcast “Slow Burn,” “Gaslit” examines the Watergate scandal from various different angles, from the accomplices and advisors to president Richard Nixon to the whistleblowers who dared to dig deep and find the truth. The central focus of the show will be on Martha Mitchell (played by Julia Roberts), the wife of Nixon’s Attorney General John N. Mitchell (played by Sean Penn). Martha is commonly regarded as the first person with a direct connection to the presidency to implicate Nixon with the Watergate break-in.
Speaking on the writing style of the show’s characters in an interview with Deadline, “Gaslit” series creator Robbie Pickering said “In the writers’ room, we really weren’t interested in a Wikipedia rundown 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.”
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The story of Watergate has continued to fascinate the country for decades on-screen through film and television. including the likes of “All the President’s Men” adapted from the Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein book of the same name, and the recent Steven Spielberg film “The Post.” “Gaslit” looks to continue and even broaden that legacy of digging deep into this infamous story of corruption and politics.
From executive producer Sam Esmail and director Matt Ross, and starring an all-star ensemble cast with the likes of Julia Roberts, Sean Penn, Dan Stevens, Betty Gilpin, Shea Whigham, Allison Tolman, Chris Messina, Hamish Linklater, and Patton Oswalt, “Gaslit” will premiere on Starz on April 24. Watch the new trailer below: