Julia Roberts, Armie Hammer, And More To Get GASLIT For Sam Esmail

Sam Esmail's next limited series just turned into a reunion: Per Variety, Julia Roberts is reteaming with the showrunner of Homecoming for Gaslit. As with Esmail's Amazon series, Gaslit is also based on a hit podcast, but this time it's a work of non-fiction – Slow Burn. Esmail is executive producing the limited series adaptation of the first season of the acclaimed Slate podcast, which examines the "untold stories and forgotten characters" of one of modern history's most infamous scandals: Watergate. Robbie Pickering, who previously wrote for Esmail on Mr. Robot, will serve as showrunner for Gaslit, which has not yet been picked up by a network or streaming platform (though that will likely change in the imminent future). 

Additional casting includes Armie Hammer, Sean Penn, and Joel Edgerton, who will executive produce and direct the series with his brother and fellow filmmaker, Nash Edgerton. Roberts will play Martha Mitchell, an outspoken Arkansas socialite and wife of Richard Nixon's attorney general, John Mitchell, played by Penn. Martha Mitchell was a pivotal figure in the Watergate scandal, and it was she who first alerted the public to Nixon's illicit dealings. One of the more compelling aspects of Slow Burn's first season is the story of Mitchell, whose involvement in the scandal has often been overlooked in the decades since. 

Hammer will portray White House Counsel John Dean, while Joel Edgerton has been cast as war vet and former FBI agent G. Gordon Liddy, who was tasked with plugging the various leaks. Gaslit is the second television project based on Slow Burn's flagship season, which was recently adapted as a docuseries for Epix. It's also just one of a few TV projects Esmail has in the works, including Angelyne – a series based on the life of one of L.A.'s most famous personalities, starring Emmy Rossum in the title role. That series is heading to NBC's new platform, Peacock.