Spike TV picks up Waco event series starring Taylor Kitsch and Michael Shannon

By Sam Barsanti | October 26, 2016 | 7:38pm

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Back in August, we reported that Friday Night Lights heartthrob Taylor Kitsch had signed on to play Branch Davidian leader and self-proclaimed messiah David Koresh in a limited series about the FBI’s 1993 standoff at Koresh’s headquarters in Waco, Texas. Koresh and his followers were facing allegations of polygamy and sexual abuse of minors, and when the ATF tried to raid the Branch Davidian compound, they were met with gunfire. The standoff between the two sides lasted 51 days, ending when the FBI sent in tear gas that—one way or another—set everything on fire and killed nearly everyone inside.

Now, Spike TV has picked up the project—appropriately titled Waco—for a six-part limited series. That comes from Deadline, which adds that the series will tell the story from multiple different perspectives, including Koresh and FBI Special Agent Gary Nosesner, who will be played by Michael Shannon. The Deadline report also notes that the series will be based on two autobiographies, one by a Branch Davidian survivor (A Place Called Waco by David Thibodeau) and one by Noesner himself (Stalling For Time: My Life As An FBI Hostage Negotiator).