Manhunt: Release date, cast, trailer and news for Apple TV+ drama

In it, we see that Menzies, who stars as former secretary of war Edwin Stanton, has a mighty task on his hands when he is ordered by the president's wife to find who shot her husband.

But we see in a tense sequence of events that Booth, played by Anthony Boyle (Masters of the Air), assassinated Lincoln by fatally shooting him in the head in the middle of a theatre.

The show follows Booth, a well-known actor at the time, who is on the run after the murder - and seems to have nothing to lose as he tries to find a place to hide.

With a bounty placed on his capture, it's not long before those around the US are hunting for Booth as well, but what motivations did an actor have to kill the president?

As well as Menzies and Boyle leading the cast, the ensemble includes Will Harrison (Daisy Jones & The Six), Brandon Flynn (13 Reasons Why) and Lovie Simone (Greenleaf).

But when can we expect Manhunt to land on Apple TV+? Read on for everything you need to know about the series.

Manhunt release date

The new drama will premiere with its first two episodes on Apple TV+ on Friday 15th March 2024, with episodes set to debut weekly on Fridays through to 19th April 2024.

Manhunt cast

The cast for Manhunt features some familiar British acting talent in the form of Tobias Menzies, who is known for his roles in Outlander, Game of Thrones and The Crown.

Menzies stars as Edwin Stanton, an American lawyer and politician who served as US secretary of war during most of the civil war under Lincoln's administration.

In the series, we follow Stanton as he starts a manhunt for Booth, which is based on the true story of how he organised the search for the killer - resulting in the entire city of Washington being locked down.

Anthony Boyle - who is known for his roles in Tetris and Masters of the Air - stars as John Wilkes Booth, the stage actor who assassinated Lincoln at Ford's Theatre in Washington, DC.

The full cast list for Manhunt is as follows:

• Tobias Menzies as Edwin Stanton
• Anthony Boyle as John Wilkes Booth
• Lovie Simone as Mary Simms
• Matt Walsh as Samuel Mudd
• Brandon Flynn as Edwin Stanton Jr
• Betty Gabriel as Elizabeth Keckley
• Will Harrison as David Herold
• Hamish Linklater as Abraham Lincoln
• Maxwell Korn as Robert Todd Lincoln
• Damian O'Hare as Thomas Eckert
• Patton Oswalt as Lafayette Baker
• Lili Taylor as Mary Todd Lincoln
• Timothy D Sigmund as Jebidiah Diggler
• Anne Dudek as Ellen Stanton
• Mark Rand as Salmon P Chase
• Tom McCafferty as Edward Gorsuch

What is Manhunt about?

The new series is, of course, grounded in the reality of the historical assassination of President Abraham Lincoln - but Manhunt is also based on the bestselling nonfiction book from author James L Swanson, Manhunt: The 12 day chase for Abraham Lincoln's Killer.

The show has been described as: "A conspiracy thriller about one of the best known but least understood crimes in history, the astonishing story of the hunt for John Wilkes Booth in the aftermath of Abraham Lincoln’s assassination."

Of course, the 1865 real-life case is one that has been widely discussed over the years due to the unexpected and public nature of Lincoln's murder.

Lincoln was shot in the head while watching Our American Cousin at the Ford Theatre in Washington, DC in a theatre box.

He was shot by Booth, who onlookers recognised as he was one of the country's leading actors at the time. Lincoln died of his wounds the day after the shooting, marking the first time a US president had been assassinated.

After his death and the eventual manhunt of Booth, it was revealed that Lincoln's assassination was part of a wider plot by Booth to revive the Confederate cause.

Motivations for the murder remain shrouded in theories, but Booth was said to have believed that the civil war wasn't over - and vowed to kill Lincoln after the president made a speech about granting voter rights to emancipated enslaved people.

Manhunt has been created by Monica Beletsky, who is known for writing and producing Fargo season 3, as well as her writer and producer work on The Leftovers and Friday Night Lights.

She serves as showrunner and executive producer on the drama, too, while Carl Franklin (Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story) directs the first two episodes, and is also an executive producer.

Is there a trailer for Manhunt?

There is - and it's a tense one. As we see Lincoln's murder plot unfold, we're still none the wiser as to the motivations of Booth's attack in the middle of the theatre, but soon start to piece together that there's a lot more to this case than meets the eye.

Watch the trailer for yourself below.

Manhunt will premiere on Apple TV+ on Friday 15th March 2024 with the first two episodes, then episodes will be released weekly. Sign up to Apple TV+ now.

Check out more of our Drama coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to see what's on tonight.

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