Julia Roberts And Sean Penn Star In New Political Drama Gaslit

The series will be available in the UK on StarzPlay, and is based off the first series a podcast, similar the recent The Dropout series on Disney+, called Slow Burn, which has covered several different events in US history and culture, and produced by Slate. There’s actually already been a TV series based off the same season, though that was a documentary rather than a drama series.

The Watergate scandal is one of the most dramatic periods in American history, having resulted in the only resignation of a US President to date, so it makes for great fodder for film and TV. Unlike the journalists-pursuing-answers stories in films like All The President’s Men and Frost/Nixon, Gaslit will focus more on the lives of politicians and those close to the administration, so expect plenty of juicy drama.

Roberts’ character, Martha Mitchell, was known for being an outspoken socialite during the days of the Nixon presidency, who leaked goings on in the administration to reporters. Having begun to complain about Nixon’s re-election campaign engaging in “dirty tricks”, she began to fall out of favour and was even the victim of a kidnapping attempt in 1972. Penn’s character, her husband, was often at odds with his wife during the scandal, and was involved in the Watergate break-ins and cover up. You can expect all these events to be dramatised in the series.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQQSrbSw9M0

Also starring in the upcoming series are Dan Stevens as John Dean, Betty Gilpin as Mo Dean and Shea Whigham as G. Gordon Liddy. John Dean served as White House Counsel for Nixon, and helped to cover up the Watergate affair before later testifying to the Senate, Mo Dean was his wife who accompanied him to the hearings, and G. Gordon Liddy was a lawyer and FBI agent who attempted to suppress leaks detailing the Watergate break-in. The story told diverges somewhat from the Slow Burn podcast, and mostly focuses on the Mitchell and Dean couples.