Adapted from the book Manhunt: The 12-day chase for Lincoln’s Killer by James Swanson, the Apple TV series centers on Secretary of War Edwin Stanton (Tobias Menzies) as he navigates the complex political and logistical battlefield is trying to apprehend John Wilkes Booth following the assassination of President Lincoln.

Apple TV

The story utilizes flashbacks to explore Stanton’s relationship with Lincoln, Lincoln’s plan for the post-war period, and some of the intolerable cruelty visited upon the enslaved of the south. Menzies is engaging as Stanton, displaying a quiet obsession as he pursues Booth while many for varied reasons seems open to the concept of simply letting the killers vanish into history.

Anthony Boyle as Booth plays the man as a person determined to live in glory as a hero while showing that under the surface the man roiled with jealousy for a level of fame denied to him.

I am about halfway through the 7-episode adaptation. The production values are quite high, something that seems standard for Apple TV productions. They are willing to spend the cash required to make each series have the look and feel of first-rate feature films, be that far future such as Foundation or Murderbot, period such as this, or contemporary like Slow Horses.