‘Wormwood’ Trailer: Errol Morris Brings True Story Miniseries To Netflix

Given the firm grip Netflix has on true crime stories, it only makes sense that Errol Morris, who delivered the genre defining “The Thin Blue Line,” should come to the streaming service. Indeed, the director is taking a big swing with “Wormwood,” a miniseries based on a true story, and it looks compelling as hell.

Starring Peter Sarsgaard, Christian Camargo, Scott Shepherd, Molly Parker, Jimmi Simpson, Bob Balaban, Tim Blake Nelson, John Doman, Hillary Gardner, Michael Chernus, Jack O’Connell, and Chance Kelly, the six-episode series will tell the untold true story of the CIA LSD experiments, mind control, and the death of a family man. Here’s the synopsis:

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This six-part series explores the limits of our knowledge about the past and the lengths we’ll go in our search for the truth. A family story of one man’s sixty-year quest to identify the circumstances of his father’s mysterious death. A quest which brings him face-to-face with some of the darkest secrets of the United States.

“Wormwood” will find Morris asking plenty of questions, some of which sound like they’ll ask viewers to stare at the uncomfortable truth about the world around them. Here’s Morris’ director’s statement:

Isn’t journalism the pursuit of truth? But what if the truth proves to be elusive, hard to get at? How far does one go? Where does one stop? Are there limits, emotional and otherwise, to the pursuit of truth? Can it be injurious to one’s health? Here we have the story of one man’s sixty year quest to identify the circumstances of his father’s death. Did he jump from a hotel window? Or was he pushed? And if he was pushed, why? What for? A shadowy world of hidden and imagined intentions coupled with dark and horrifying revelations. In many ways, a personal family story, but in many other ways, a story of America’s decline in the period following World War II. It asks the question: To what extent can a democracy lie to its citizens and still, in the end, remain a democracy?

“Wormwood” premieres in its entirety at Venice, and hits Netflix on December 15th.