Michael Shannon And Taylor Kitsch Will Star In A Miniseries About The Waco Siege

Here's a few things only 90s kids will remember: Chevy Chase's short-lived talk show, HBO's animated Babar series, that time 80 Branch Davidian cultists burned to death outside Waco, TX, and the singular musical stylings of Candlebox. What a wild decade!

All of these events (and many, many more) are worthy of inclusion on a highly clickable listicle, but only one of them will be the subject of a brand-new event miniseries being assembled by the good folks at Weinstein Television.

Can you guess which one?

Weinstein Television has announced that they are developing an event series based on the (Waco seige) with Michael Shannon (Midnight Special) and Taylor Kitsch (Friday Night Lights), playing lead FBI negotiator Gary Noesener and Koresh respectively.

That's IndieWire delivering the news. According to their report, brothers John Erick and Drew Dowdle (As Above, So Below; No Escape) will write the series, and they're basing the screenplay on two Waco-centric biographies: A Place Called Waco by David Thibodeau (one of the few Branch Davidians to survive the siege) and Sinful Messiah, written by former FBI negotiator Gary Noesner.

As for the casting: Kitsch is an interesting choice for David Koresh, I guess, but I would be remiss (and would be operating way off-brand) if I did not express my excitement re: Michael Shannon's involvement here...though I'll admit to being surprised that he's playing the FBI negotiator. 

If anything, you'd expect Shannon to be playing one of the Branch Davidians. Just consider how easy it is to imagine a sweaty Michael Shannon peeking out a set of blinds and mumbling to himself about the ATF tank creeping across the lawn. 

Anyway, no network's attached at the moment, but this project's coming together quickly. Probably won't be long before we hear more, so stay tuned.