Starz has released a new teaser trailer for Gaslit. Starring Julia Roberts and Sean Penn, the limited series will delve into the Watergate scandal and promises to deliver a fresh take on the well-known story. You can watch the new trailer below.
Starz describes the series as “a modern take on Watergate that focuses on the untold stories and forgotten characters of the scandal — from Nixon’s bumbling and 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.”
“Gaslit is the Watergate story you’ve never heard before,” says Gaslit showrunner Robbie Pickering, per The Hollywood Reporter. “At the center of the show is Martha Mitchell (Roberts), an unlikely whistleblower who is the first person to bust the whole scandal wide open and ultimately becomes the subject of a vicious White House smear campaign enacted in part by her own beloved husband, Attorney General John Mitchell (Penn). We also feature John Dean (Dan Stevens), a hotshot administration lawyer dragged into the coverup and thrust into the spotlight with his acerbic, whip-smart wife, Mo (Betty Gilpin).”
He adds, "The goal in making this project has always been to bring a real humanity to this subject, which yields a far richer and more relatable story than the standard male-driven political dramas about the period."
At the show’s Television Critics Association’s press tour panel on Wednesday, executive producer Sam Esmail noted, “I don’t think it’s a mistake the women who played such an instrumental role in this scandal were ignored and silenced. I think it’s by design. That’s the perspective shift this story takes on.”
“At the same time, it’s not a girlboss overcorrection history rewrite," adds Gilpin. "I don’t like it when all of a sudden there’s an overcorrect to just give women all the answers. They’re still women in 1972 struggling with the obstacles that women of the time dealt with.”
Gaslit Made Headlines Over Sean Penn Holding Up Production
Last year, Gaslit had garnered some media attention when Sean Penn had reportedly refused to work on the production until everyone in the cast and crew was vaccinated. He returned to the production by September. The subject of vaccinations and associated mandates to work on certain movies and TV shows continues to be a hot-button topic in Hollywood. Recently, Ant-Man and the Wasp star Evangeline Lilly protested the vaccine mandates, which generated some controversy.
"I believe nobody should ever be forced to inject their body with anything, against their will, under threat of violent attack, arrest or detention without trial, loss of employment, homelessness, starvation, loss of education, alienation from loved ones, excommunication from society… under any threat whatsoever," Lilly wrote on Instagram, also including a photo that was taken at an anti-mandate rally she had attended.
Gaslit will premiere on April 24, 2022, on Starz. Matt Ross directed and executive produced the series with Esmail and Chad Hamilton serving as executive producers alongside Julie Roberts, Lisa Gillan, Marisa Yeres Gill, Gabriel Roth, and Josh Levin.