Manhunt (2017 TV series)

Manhunt is an American drama anthology television series created by Andrew Sodroski, Jim Clemente, and Tony Gittelson, initially commissioned as a television miniseries. The first season, Manhunt: Unabomber, stars Sam Worthington and Paul Bettany, and depicts a fictionalized account of the FBI's hunt for the Unabomber. It premiered on Discovery Channel on August 1, 2017. On July 17, 2018, Charter Communications was in advanced negotiations with the series' producers to pick up the series for two additional seasons to be aired on their Spectrum cable service. The show's second season follows the hunt for Eric Rudolph, who was the perpetrator of the Centennial Olympic Park bombing, after suspicion initially fell on security guard Richard Jewell. The second season, Manhunt: Deadly Games, premiered on February 3, 2020.

Main

 * Sam Worthington as Jim Fitzgerald
 * Paul Bettany as Ted Kaczynski
 * Jeremy Bobb as Stan Cole
 * Keisha Castle-Hughes as Tabby Milgrim
 * Lynn Collins as Natalie Rogers
 * Brían F. O'Byrne as Frank McAlpine
 * Elizabeth Reaser as Ellie Fitzgerald
 * Ben Weber as Andy Genelli
 * Chris Noth as Don Ackerman

Recurring

 * Jane Lynch as Janet Reno
 * Katja Herbers as Linda Kaczynski
 * Michael Nouri as Bob Guccione
 * Jill Remez as Susan Mosse
 * Wallace Langham as Louis Freeh
 * Brian d'Arcy James as Henry Murray
 * Mark Duplass as David Kaczynski
 * Diesel Madkins as Ernie Esposito
 * Will Murden as Sean Fitzgerald
 * Carter and Colby Zier as Ryan Fitzgerald
 * Jana Allen as Heidi Shumway
 * Trieste Kelly Dunn as Theresa Oakes
 * Griff Furst as Burkhardt
 * Rebecca Henderson as Judy Clarke
 * Bonnie Johnson as Wanda Kaczynski
 * Steve Coulter as Anthony Bisceglie
 * Mary Rachel Dudley as Lois Epstein
 * Tyler Huth as Timmy Oakes
 * Doug Kruse as David Gelernter
 * Mike Pniewski as Charles Epstein
 * Gregory Alan Williams as Garland Burrell
 * McKenna Grace Martin as Joanna Epstein

Main

 * Cameron Britton as Richard Jewell
 * Jack Huston as Eric Rudolph
 * Judith Light as Bobi Jewell
 * Carla Gugino as Kathy Scruggs
 * Gethin Anthony as Jack Brennan
 * Kelly Jenrette as Stacy Knox
 * Arliss Howard as Earl Embry

Recurring

 * Jay O. Sanders as Watson Bryant
 * Nick Searcy as Sheriff Thompson
 * Marley Shelton as Hannah Gray
 * Becky Ann Baker as Patricia Rudolph
 * Brad William Henke as Big John

Production
The working title for the series was Manifesto, and the series order was announced in March 2016 at a presentation by Discovery Communications president Rich Ross. On May 15, 2016, Entertainment Weekly released several promotional photos, showing a first look at Paul Bettany's portrayal of Ted Kaczynski.

Release
Lionsgate Home Entertainment released the entire miniseries on Blu-ray and DVD on December 26, 2017.

Netflix secured the rights to the series in November 2017. It premiered on the site on December 12, 2017, in various territories.

CBS acquired the broadcast rights to Deadly Games in August 2020, where it premiered on September 21, 2020. In December 2020, Deadly Games was added to Netflix.

Reception
The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 93% approval rating and an average rating of 7.67/10, based on 29 reviews. The site's critics consensus reads: "Engrossing and affecting, Manhunt: Unabomber uses a taut, meticulously constructed narrative to uncover the facts behind the oft-exaggerated true story." On Metacritic, the series has a weighted average score of 71 out of 100, based on 19 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

Season 1
Former FBI agent Greg Stejskal was involved in the UNABOM investigation, and he criticized the writers of the show in TheWrap, accusing them of making "a minor member" of the FBI investigative team "into the star player who won the game," referring to the show's portrayal of Jim Fitzgerald. He said that Fitzgerald never met Kaczynski, was not in Lincoln, Montana, during the time of Kaczynski's arrest (although the show does not place Fitzgerald in Lincoln at the time of Kaczynski's arrest), had no part in the search of Kaczynski's cabin, and never interviewed him.

Fitzgerald told Bustle Magazine in August 2017 that the show is in the "high 80 percentile" of accuracy, though "the Fitz character is a composite." He also stated that he had not interviewed Kaczynski, although he said that he was on his way to do so in 2007 when Kaczynski changed his mind.