See the Cast of ‘Gaslit’ vs. Their Real-Life Counterparts (PHOTOS)
Just shy of the 50th anniversary of the break-in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters in Washington, D.C., Starz is retelling former U.S. President Richard Nixon’s Watergate scandal “through the long-neglected lens of the lesser-known but no-less-key players involved in the downfall of America’s 37th president.”
That’s the framing of Gaslit, an eight-episode series premiering on Starz on April 24, and you can see the cast alongside their real-life counterparts below.
Julia Roberts headlines the show, playing Martha Mitchell, the socialite wife of Nixon’s campaign chair and onetime U.S. attorney general John Mitchell, played by Sean Penn. Martha’s outspokenness and many media appearances during Nixon’s 1972 run for reelection earned her the moniker “Mouth of the South.”
“Martha enjoys 76% name recognition in American households, second only to Richard Nixon himself, when the Watergate break-in happens,” Starz explains in a synopsis. “From there, her story takes a turn, and the choices she makes in its wake will come to put her reputation on the line and her marriage under threat.”
Gaslit also reunites Roberts with her Homecoming costar Shea Whigham, who plays G. Gordon Liddy, the former FBI agent convicted for helping organize the Watergate burglary. Downton Abbey’s Dan Stevens, meanwhile, plays then-White House counsel John Dean, while GLOW’s Betty Gilpin plays John’s wife, Mo, as the scandal puts the duo’s new marriage put to the test.
Gaslit, Series premiere, Sunday, April 24, 8/7c, Starz