Lovie Simone Cast as Mary Simms in Apple Limited Series ‘Manhunt’

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Lovie Simone has been casted in the Apple TV+ true crime limited series "Manhunt" based on Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer by James Swanson. The series follows the Lincoln assassination and the resulting aftermath. It will be lead by Tobias Menzies ("Rome, “The Crown,”, “Outlander”) as Edwin Stanton, Lincoln’s war secretary and friend.

Simone has been casted as Mary Simms, the first Black American to testify on May 25, 1865 during the conspiracy trial for the assassination of President Lincoln.

Mary Simms was the former slave of Samuel Mudd, the doctor who treated the leg injury of John Wilkes Booth (to be played by Anthony Boyle) and gave him safe harbor after his crime. Simms remembered her former enslavers dislike for Lincoln and discussed specific conversations during her testimony. Mary Simms' brothers Elzee Eglent,14 year old Milo Simms, and seven other formerly enslaved people also testified in the case so I'm looking forward to their casting. 

Dr. Samuel A. Mudd House, May 2016. Jamie Krouse. Wikimedia Commons.

The series is said to feature many important Black historical figures whose lives were intertwined with the escape, manhunt and the tension filled investigation. Manhunt is described as "part historical fiction, part conspiracy thriller", so I'm very eager to see how the Black characters play into that. 

Carl Franklin will be the director and executive producer. Franklin has experience with historical thrillers as shown by his work on “Devil in a Blue Dress”. 

Comments

  1. AnonymousOctober 28, 2022 at 10:17 AM

    My niece Jessica Ross is in 7 episodes of this series. So proud of her!

    ReplyDelete

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