NBC’s Charles Manson Series ‘Aquarius’ With David Duchovny Set for May
NBC has set a May 28th start date for the Charles Manson miniseries Aquarius, which stars David Duchovny as a Los Angeles police officer in pursuit of the Helter Skelter cult leader in the period leading up to the Sharon Tate murder. Game of Thrones actor Gethin Anthony will portray Manson on the 13-episode “event series.” Aquarius takes place in 1967 Los Angeles and follows Duchovny’s Sgt. Sam Hodiak and a counterculture-infiltrating undercover cop played by Grey Damon as they investigate Manson and his “Family,” the Wrap reports.
NBC’s Aquarius miniseries, which is not the Manson-related project that novelist Bret Easton Ellis and Rob Zombie were working on for Fox, was created by Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman vet John McNamara and producer Marty Adelstein, who aligned the show with NBC after they gave him the freedom to make Aquarius how he wanted, with executives telling McNamara to “make a cable show.” The home of Must-See Thursdays has relaxed its family-friendly standards in recent years with the arrival of Hannibal and their Rosemary’s Baby miniseries.
“That period was a pivotal moment in our country,” Adelstein told The Hollywood Reporter of Aquarius. “I grew up in LA, I was a kid then and it changed everything. We never used to lock our doors until Manson happened. That’s what makes this story so fascinating is that it could turn on a dime.”
As Aquarius is limited to 13 episodes and its Summer of Love time frame, the miniseries unfortunately won’t cover the soap opera revolving around the convicted cult leader’s life at the moment. Last year, Manson, who is serving a life sentence in prison, obtained a marriage license to wed his girlfriend Afton Burton. However, a report came out that alleged Burton only planned to marry the 80-year-old Manson so she could profit off his corpse.
In an exclusive interview with Rolling Stone, Manson’s future mother-in-law called the corpse-peddling rumors “a big lie” and that the marriage will proceed as planned.