Starz Picks up Anthology Series ‘Gaslit’ With Julia Roberts & Sean Penn

Academy Award winners Julia Roberts and Sean Penn are coming to Starz in an anthology series that will kick off focusing on Watergate.

Armie Hammer and Joel Edgerton will no longer star and their roles will be recast, and Nash Edgerton will no longer direct or executive produce.

Starz has picked up Gaslit, an adaptation of the first season of Slate’s award-winning podcast, Slow Burn, telling the “untold” story of the role Martha Mitchell (played by Roberts) played in exposing Watergate. Production will begin this spring on the series, described by Starz as “a modern take on Watergate that focuses on the untold stories and forgotten characters of the scandal — from Nixon’s bumbling, opportunistic subordinates, to the deranged zealots aiding and abetting their crimes, to the tragic whistleblowers who would eventually bring the whole rotten enterprise crashing down.”

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Penn plays Martha Mitchel’s husband, Nixon’s loyal Attorney General John Mitchell. “Mitchell is Nixon’s most trusted advisor and best friend,” his character’s description reads. “Temperamental, foulmouthed and ruthless — yet hopelessly in love with his famously outspoken wife — he’ll be forced to choose between Martha and the President.”

“I’m so happy to have the opportunity to share the heartbreaking, fascinating story of Martha Mitchell with the world,” creator, showrunner, and executive producer Robbie Pickering said in a statement.

Also executive producing are director Matt Ross, Sam Esmail (who worked with Roberts on Homecoming), Chad Hamilton, Roberts, Gabriel Roth, and Josh Levin. Lisa Gillan and Marisa Yeres Gill serve as co-executive producers. The podcast’s creator Leon Nayfakh will consult. The series is written by Pickering, Amelia Gray, Alberto Roldán, Anayat Fakhraie, Uzoamaka Maduka, and Sofya Levitsky-Weitz.

Gaslit, TBA, Starz