Get Ready for Another True-Crime Miniseries with Spike TV’s Waco
Photos by Theo Wargo/Getty, Jason Kempin/GettyThere’s another true-story event series headed your way. Weinstein Television has teamed up with Spike TV for Waco, which will tell the true story of a 1993 FBI siege on a religious sect in, you guessed it, Waco, Texas.
The limited series will star Michael Shannon as Gary Noesner, the lead FBI negotiator during the siege, and Taylor Kitsch as David Koresh, the leader of the Branch Davidians. The series will be told from several perspectives on both sides of the conflict, and will reveal information that has never been shared on television before.
Waco will depict the events leading up to the 51-day siege, as well as the siege itself. The series is based on two biographies: A Place Called Wilco was written by Branch Davidian David Thibodeau, who was one of the nine survivors of the final fire on April 19, 1993; Stalling for Time: My Life as an FBI Hostage Negotiator was written by Noesner himself.
Said Weinstein Company co-chairman Harvey Weinstein in a statement:
We’ve been working with our friend Kevin Kay at Spike for years. He has a rare gift for creating quality scripted television with commercial appeal and when he shared his vision for both the program and his goals for the network I knew we had found the perfect partner. Waco is a provocative series where the drama and excitement are amplified by the truth and the history surrounding the event, along with a cast of amazing actors including the incredible Michael Shannon and Taylor Kitsch.
There’s no firm premiere date for the limited series yet, but with the talent it has assembled thus far, it may be something to look out for. Choosing to tell true-life stories from multiple perspectives has been a winning formula for recent series like American Crime Story: The People v. O.J. Simpson. Now, it looks like Waco wants to follow that template.