Apple TV+’s new historical drama series Manhunt comes to an end this week, and the series finale finds President Lincoln facing a painful reality. In a flashback scene, Abraham Lincoln (Hamish Linklater) and his wife Mary Todd (Lili Taylor) are at their ailing son William’s bedside.
“If I should cancel my party and tell my guests to go home, I will,” Mary Todd asks the doctor looking after William. “Please tell me, is this grave? I need to know.” The doctor smiles and replies, “Go enjoy your party. Mrs. Lincoln.” After urging her husband to also “come down” for their party, Abraham tells his wife that he will as soon as William is “sleeping soundly.” The doctor then says, “Everything should be better by tomorrow.”
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Abraham goes on to suggest that they “postpone the dancing for tonight. Not the whole party, but just the dancing.” Mary Todd asks, “Do you say that because of Willie’s condition or because of the noise?” Abraham reassures her that it’s just so they can “let him sleep.”
“I’m so used to expecting the worst,” Mary Todd later says to her husband and the doctor. “So I’ll pray for the best.” After she leaves, Abraham turns to the doctor and asks, “Is it days or weeks, doctor?” The doctor replies, “Days.”
Based on The New York Times bestselling and Edgar Award-winning non-fiction book from author James L. Swanson, Manhunt is a conspiracy thriller about one of the best-known but least understood crimes in history, the astonishing story of the hunt for John Wilkes Booth in the aftermath of Abraham Lincoln’s death.
Starring alongside Linklater and Taylor are Tobias Menzies, Anthony Boyle, Lovie Simone, Will Harrison, Brandon Flynn, Damian O’Hare, Patton Oswalt, Matt Walsh, and Glenn Morshower. The show was created by Monica Beletsky and directed by Carl Franklin. All episodes of Manhunt are now streaming on Apple TV+.
