The 'Manhunt' Trailer Turns the Lincoln Assassination Into a True Crime Thriller
As part of its presentation during the kick-off of the Television Critics Association 2024 winter press tour, Apple TV+ released the trailer for Manhunt, its upcoming high-octane historical drama that turns the aftermath of the Lincoln assassination into a true crime mystery.
Everyone knows who killed Abraham Lincoln. Heck, most people know who the culprit was as soon as the president was shot. (He did, after all, leap down to the stage at Ford's Theater and declare vengeance in the name of the South, who had just surrendered and ended the American Civil War.) But far fewer people likely know what happened after the dramatic events of that night in April 1865 or the scale of the search that was launched to track down and capture Booth.
Manhunt aims to change all that. Based on James L. Swanson's bestselling book, Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln’s Killer, the seven-part drama is being touted as a "true crime limited series," and if the trailer's anything to go by, that's likely not an unfair description. After shooting Lincoln, Booth escaped out the back door of Ford's Theater, ultimately leading authorities and the U.S. Army on a chase through Maryland and Virginia that lasted for the better part of two weeks. (Despite a $100,000 reward being offered for his capture, which would have been roughly the equivalent of almost 2 million dollars today.) He was eventually cornered in a farmhouse in Port Royal, near Fredericksburg, where he was shot while refusing to surrender. He died on the property.
