Jane Lynch to play Janet Reno in Discovery Channel’s Manifesto

By Joe Blevins | January 19, 2017 | 9:23pm

Aux Features TV

Some intriguing casting news has emerged from Discovery Channel’s upcoming fact-based FBI drama Manifesto. It looks like Glee and Hollywood Game Night veteran Jane Lynch will be portraying former US Attorney General Janet Reno in the show’s first season, which as we reported previously will focus on the case of Unabomber Ted Kaczynski. That plum role will be played by British actor Paul Bettany, still probably best known for his participation in various Marvel Cinematic Universe films. Reno, who died in November 2016, served as Attorney General under President Bill Clinton in 1995, the year Kaczynski sent letters to various media outlets vowing to end his bombing campaign if they would publish his 35,000-word manifesto Industrial Society And Its Future. Controversially, Reno was among those urging the publication of the manifesto, and the document did end up appearing in The New York Times and The Washington Post.

These issues and more will likely be at the heart of Manifesto, which starts filming at the end of January in Atlanta. No premiere date has been set. Chris Noth will portray Don Ackerman, who headed up the FBI’s Unabomber task force. Other cast members include Jeremy Bobb (The Knick) and Lynn Collins. In recent years, thanks to her generally lighthearted TV work and her appearances in Christopher Guest movies, Lynch has become known as a comedienne. But her resume has plenty of dramatic work, too, including roles on Criminal Minds, CSI, The X-FIles, and The West Wing.