Discovery Channel announced today that Mark Duplass (Togetherness, Blue Jay), Jeremy Bobb (The Knick, Godless), Lynn Collins (X-Men Origins: Wolverine), Katja Herbers (Manhattan, The Leftovers), and Brían F. O’Byrne (Mildred Pierce, Aquarius) have been cast in its upcoming scripted Unabomber series Manifesto, set to air this year.
Produced by John Goldwyn, serving as consultant to Discovery, Lionsgate, Trigger Street Productions and Discovery Channel, the series will tell the story of how FBI agent Jim “Fitz” Fitzgerald (Sam Worthington, Avatar, Hacksaw Ridge) deployed a radical approach to intelligence gathering to take down Ted Kaczynski, portrayed by Paul Bettany (Gangster No. 1, Captain America: Civil War), also known as the “Unabomber,” one of the most infamous criminal masterminds in the world. Emmy Award-winning television producer and director Greg Yaitanes (Quarry, Banshee) will executive produce, direct and serve as showrunner. Andrew Sodroski, whose Holland, Michigan topped Hollywood’s famed Black List for screenplays in 2013, created the series and serves as an Executive Producer. Jim Fitzgerald will serve as Consulting Producer.
Mark Duplass has been cast as David Kaczynski, Ted Kaczynski’s younger brother. He is joined by Jeremy Bobb as Stan Cole, a seasoned FBI agent and Ackerman’s “foul-mouthed pit bull”; Lynn Collins playing Natalie, a post-doc in linguistics at Stanford; Katja Herbers as Linda, David Kaczinski’s wife; and Brian F. O’Byrne as Frank McAlpine, the FBI’s master profiler and Fitzgerald’s professor who leads the Behavioral Analysis Unit.
Discovery also recently announced Golden Globe and two-time Emmy winner Jane Lynch (Glee, Hollywood Game Night) will play the role of former U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno. Other cast includes Golden Globe nominee Chris Noth (The Good Wife, Sex in the City) who plays Don Ackerman, the Bay Area Divisional Head of the FBI, who supervised the Unabomber Task Force; and Oscar nominee Keisha Castle-Hughes (Roadies, Game of Thrones) as Tabby, a street agent who partners with Fitz. This series features both Bettany and Worthington’s first major leading roles on U.S. television.
Mark Duplass is an award-winning actor, filmmaker and producer. In 2014, Mark and his brother, Jay, created the critically acclaimed television series “Togetherness” in which Mark also starred. In 2015, the Duplass Brothers signed a first-look television deal with HBO and also inked a multi-film deal with Netflix for the production of their independent work. Mark’s credits include: Alexander Lehmann’s romantic drama Blue Jay, Lynn Shelton’s Gotham-award winning Your Sister’s Sister, Charlie McDowell’s sci-fi romance The One I Love, Patrick Brice’s horror-comedy Creep, Colin Trevorrow’s Independent Spirit award-winning Safety Not Guaranteed, the Sundance sensation Humpday and Katherine Bigelow’s Oscar-winning Zero Dark Thirty.
Jeremy Bobb is best known for his performance as hospital administrator ‘Herman Barrow’ in Stephen Soderbergh’s The Knick opposite Clive Owen and Eve Hewson. Next up, Bobb will be seen in Scott Frank’s western mini-series Godless for Netflix, Stephen Soderbergh’s ambitious Mosaic for HBO, and a Thurgood Marshall biopic with Chad Boseman.
Lynn Collins played the female lead of Kayla Silverfox in X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Her breakthrough role came as Portia opposite Al Pacino in the acclaimed film adaptation of The Merchant of Venice. Her independent credits include the role of Anna opposite Channing Tatum in Jamie Linden’s 10 Years as well as the lead role of Cindy opposite Jeremy Piven in Waska. She followed that with recurring roles on HBO’s True Blood as Dawn Green and USA’s Covert Affairs as Olga. Lynn can next be seen in Hollow Point, alongside Ian McShane, John Leguizamo, and Patrick Wilson.
Katja Herbers is a Dutch actress who just recently filmed a recurring arc on HBO’s The Leftovers, recurred on FX’s The Americans and was a series regular for two seasons on the critically-acclaimed WGN drama Manhattan produced by Thomas Schlamme and Sam Shaw.
Brían F. O’Byrne last starred as Ken Karn in the NBC series Aquarius and will next be seen co-starring as Allan Pinkerton in season two of Mercy Street. In the UK, he recently completed the ITV mini-series Little Boy Blue opposite Stephen Graham. O’Byrne starred opposite Kate Winslet in his Emmy-nominated role in Mildred Pierce. His other television credits include Saints & Strangers, Prime Suspect, FlashForward, Brotherhood and the acclaimed Irish series Love/Hate. O’Byrne’s film credits include the critically-acclaimed film Million Dollar Baby, Medeas, Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead, Brooklyn’s Finest and The International. He also starred in Jimmy’s Hall and Queen and Country, both of which premiered at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival.
Production starts in Atlanta on January 30, 2017.
(Photo Credit: Getty Images)
