In the two-part season premiere of Manhunt, the creator Monica Beletsky faced a unique challenge in adapting the pursuit of Abraham Lincoln's killer as a true-crime detective thriller. Set in 1865, well before the establishment of forensic science, the series follows the 12-day hunt for John Wilkes Booth after Lincoln's assassination. Beletsky aimed to create a cat-and-mouse thriller within a historical context devoid of modern investigative tools.
The series focuses on Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, played by Tobias Menzies, who takes charge in the absence of a conscious President following Lincoln's death. Stanton's role in leading the investigation to find Booth becomes a central narrative thread, shifting the spotlight from Lincoln to a lesser-known politician navigating a divided nation post-Civil War.
