Jane Lynch will be playing Janet Reno in Discovery‘s scripted drama “Manifesto,” Variety has learned.
The Emmy-winning “Glee” actress and “Hollywood Game Night” host joins a cast that includes Paul Bettany and Sam Worthington in their first major U.S. TV roles, Chris Noth, and Keisha Castle-Hughes.
“Manifesto” tells the story of how FBI agent Jim “Fitz” Fitzgerald (Worthington) deployed a radical approach to intelligence gathering to take down Ted Kaczynski (Bettany), also known as the “Unabomber,” one of the most infamous criminal masterminds in the world. Reno, who oversaw Kaczynski’s capture and conviction, was the first woman to serve as Attorney General. On-screen, Lynch will interact most with Noth’s Don Ackerman, the Bay Area Divisional Head of the FBI who supervised the Unabomber Task Force.
Discovery ordered the project to series at the end of March 2016, and production will start in Atlanta on Jan. 30 with an eye toward a premiere later in 2017. Greg Yaitanes (“Quarry,” “Banshee”) will executive produce, direct and serve as showrunner. Andrew Sodroski created the series and serves as an executive producer, and Jim Fitzgerald will serve as consulting producer. “Manifesto” is produced by Lionsgate and Trigger Street Productions. Lynch is repped by UTA and attorney Adam Kaller.
