''Manhattan'' (sometimes styled ''MANH(A)TTAN'') is an American

drama Drama is the specific Mode (literature), mode of fiction Mimesis, represented in performance: a Play (theatre), play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on Radio drama, radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a g ...

television series based on the project of the same name that produced the first atomic weapons. While some historical figures appear in ''Manhattan'', most characters are fictional, and the show is not intended to maintain historical accuracy. The show was the first drama production for

WGN America WGN America was an American subscription television network that operated from November 9, 1978 to February 28, 2021. The service was originally uplinked to satellite by United Video Inc. as a national feed of Chicago independent station WGN-T ...

since the revival of Tribune's production arm as Tribune Studios. The series premiered on WGN America on July 27, 2014. The series earned critical acclaim throughout its run, but failed to secure adequate ratings. As a result, it was canceled on February 2, 2016, after its second season, becoming the first WGN America original series to be canceled.

Plot

Set in 1943 and 1944 at the time of the

Manhattan Project The Manhattan Project was a research and development program undertaken during World War II to produce the first nuclear weapons. It was led by the United States in collaboration with the United Kingdom and Canada. From 1942 to 1946, the ...

, the series focuses on the scientists at

Project Y The Los Alamos Laboratory, also known as Project Y, was a secret scientific laboratory established by the Manhattan Project and overseen by the University of California during World War II. It was operated in partnership with the United State ...

and their families in the newly created

Los Alamos, New Mexico Los Alamos (, meaning ''The Poplars'') is a census-designated place in Los Alamos County, New Mexico, United States, that is recognized as one of the development and creation places of the Nuclear weapon, atomic bomb—the primary objective of ...

, a town the outside world knows nothing about. The federal government tells the scientists only what they need to know, while the scientists keep secrets from their families. The TV show is not intended to be historically accurate, but inspired by history. The show does reference many aspects of the actual Manhattan Project, and some historical figures such as head scientist

Robert Oppenheimer J. Robert Oppenheimer (born Julius Robert Oppenheimer ; April 22, 1904 – February 18, 1967) was an American theoretical physicist who served as the director of the Manhattan Project's Los Alamos Laboratory during World War II. He is often ...

. Other contributors to the Manhattan Project, such as

Nobel Laureate The Nobel Prizes (, ) are awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the Swedish Academy, the Karolinska Institutet, and the Norwegian Nobel Committee to individuals and organizations who make outstanding contributions in th ...

Enrico Fermi Enrico Fermi (; 29 September 1901 – 28 November 1954) was an Italian and naturalized American physicist, renowned for being the creator of the world's first artificial nuclear reactor, the Chicago Pile-1, and a member of the Manhattan Project ...

(who moved to the site in September 1944) and Emilio G. Segrè, do not appear.

Cast

Main

John Benjamin Hickey John Benjamin Hickey (born June 25, 1963) is an American actor and director with a career in stage, film and television. He won the 2011 Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play for his performance as Felix Turner in '' The ...

as Dr. Frank Winter, leader of an initially small group of scientists working on an implosion design weapon (loosely based on Seth Neddermeyer and the E-5 Group at the Los Alamos Laboratory) * Olivia Williams as Dr. Liza Winter, Frank's wife and a

botanist Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...

* Ashley Zukerman as Dr. Charlie Isaacs, a rising young star of the Project * Rachel Brosnahan as Abby Isaacs, Charlie's wife * Daniel Stern as Dr. Glen Babbit, mentor to other scientists (season 1; special guest season 2) * Katja Herbers as Dr. Helen Prins, one of the few women scientists *

Harry Lloyd Harry Charles Salusbury Lloyd (born 17 November 1983) is an English actor. His performance in the Channel 4 miniseries '' The Fear'' (2012) earned him a British Academy Television Award nomination. He gained prominence through his roles as W ...

as Paul Crosley, a British scientist who wants to advance at any cost *

Alexia Fast Alexia Fast (born 12 September 1992) is a Canadian actress who began her career at the age of seven when she wrote, directed and starred in the short film ''The Red Bridge,'' which premiered at the 2002 Atlantic and Reel to Reel Film Festivals ...

as Callie Winter, Frank and Liza's rebellious teenage daughter (season 1; guest season 2) *

Christopher Denham Christopher Denham is an American actor and director. He is known for supporting roles in '' Oppenheimer'', '' Shutter Island'', ''Argo'', '' Being the Ricardos'', '' Charlie Wilson's War'' and '' Sound of My Voice.'' Television credits include ...

as Jim Meeks, a scientist. Loosely based on the

atomic spies Atomic spies or atom spies were people in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada who are known to have illicitly given information about nuclear weapons production or design to the Soviet Union during World War II and the early Cold W ...

, in particular

Klaus Fuchs Klaus Emil Julius Fuchs (29 December 1911 – 28 January 1988) was a German theoretical physicist and atomic spy who supplied information from the American, British, and Canadian Manhattan Project to the Soviet Union during and shortly a ...

Michael Chernus Michael Louis Chernus (born August 8, 1977) is an American actor who has acted on film, television, and the stage. He is best known for his role as Cal Chapman on the Netflix original comedy-drama series ''Orange Is the New Black'' (2013–2019) ...

as Louis "Fritz" Fedowitz, a scientist *

William Petersen William Louis Petersen (born February 21, 1953) is an American actor. He is best known for his role as Gil Grissom in the CBS drama thriller series ''CSI: Crime Scene Investigation'' (2000–2015), for which he won a Screen Actors Guild Award an ...

as Colonel Emmett Darrow (season 2), a United States military officer

Recurring

* David Harbour as Dr. Reed Akley, lead scientist for the Thin Man bomb design * Eddie Shin as Dr. Sidney "Sid" Liao, a

Chinese-American Chinese Americans are Americans of Chinese ancestry. Chinese Americans constitute a subgroup of East Asian Americans which also constitute a subgroup of Asian Americans. Many Chinese Americans have ancestors from mainland China, Hong Kong ...

scientist * Daniel London as Professor

J. Robert Oppenheimer J. Robert Oppenheimer (born Julius Robert Oppenheimer ; April 22, 1904 – February 18, 1967) was an American theoretical physics, theoretical physicist who served as the director of the Manhattan Project's Los Alamos Laboratory during World ...

, the melancholic, somewhat reclusive, world-renowned

theoretical physicist Theoretical physics is a branch of physics that employs mathematical models and abstractions of physical objects and systems to rationalize, explain, and predict natural phenomena. This is in contrast to experimental physics, which uses experi ...

, and scientific director of the

Los Alamos National Laboratory Los Alamos National Laboratory (often shortened as Los Alamos and LANL) is one of the sixteen research and development Laboratory, laboratories of the United States Department of Energy National Laboratories, United States Department of Energy ...

Mark Moses Mark Moses (born February 24, 1958) is an American actor. He is best known for his roles as Paul Young in the ABC comedy-drama '' Desperate Housewives'' (2004–2011) and as Herman "Duck" Phillips in the AMC period drama '' Mad Men'' (2007–2 ...

as Col. Alden Cox * Carole Weyers as Elodie Lancefield, bisexual wife of scientist Lancefield *

Richard Schiff Richard Schiff (born May 27, 1955) is an American actor. He is best known for playing Toby Ziegler on ''The West Wing'', a role for which he received an Emmy Award. Schiff made his television directorial debut with ''The West Wing'', directing an ...

as G-2 spy catcher Avraham Fisher (aka "Occam") * Jefferson White as Private First Class Cole Dunlavey (aka "Iowa") *

Peter Stormare Rolf Peter Ingvar Stormare (; Birth name, né Storm, 27 August 1953) is a Swedish actor. He played Prince Hamlet, Hamlet for Ingmar Bergman, Gaear Grimsrud in the film ''Fargo (1996 film), Fargo'' (1996) and List of Prison Break characters#John ...

as Lazar * Josh Cooke as scientist Lancefield *

Neve Campbell Neve Adrianne Campbell (; born October 3, 1973) is a Canadian actress. After working in Canadian and American television, Campbell emerged as a scream queen for her starring roles in horror and thriller films. She has also appeared in blockbu ...

as Kitty Oppenheimer (season 2) *

Mamie Gummer Mary Willa "Mamie" Gummer (born August 3, 1983) is an American actress. She starred in the title role of The CW series '' Emily Owens, M.D.'' (2012–2013), and played the recurring role of Nancy Crozier on ''The Good Wife'' (2010–2015) and its ...

as Nora (season 2) *

Griffin Dunne Thomas Griffin Dunne (; born June 8, 1955) is an American actor, director and producer. He is known for portraying Jack Goodman in ''An American Werewolf in London'' (1981) and Paul Hackett in '' After Hours'' (1985), for which he was nominat ...

as Woodrow Lorentzen, a reporter and old friend of Liza Winter (season 2)

Production

Television network

premiered its first scripted show, the historical drama '' Salem'', on April 20, 2014. Peter Liguori, CEO of WGN's parent,

Tribune Media Tribune Media Company, also known as Tribune Company, was an American multimedia conglomerate headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. Through Tribune Broadcasting, Tribune Media was one of the largest television broadcasting companies, owning 39 ...

, emphasized a strategy of original content production as a way to improve the channel's prestige and profile. TV companies producing the show include

Lionsgate Television Lionsgate Television is the television division of the American production company Lionsgate Studios. History The company was established in July 1997 as Lions Gate Television, Inc. with the establishment of Lionsgate Films. In June 1998, it ...

Skydance Television Skydance Media, LLC, also known as Skydance Productions, is an American media production and finance company based in Santa Monica, California. Founded by David Ellison in 2006, the company specializes in films, animation, television, video games ...

and Tribune Studios, a WGN affiliate. When announced in April 2014, 13 episodes were ordered. The series began filming in mid-March across in New Mexico. On October 14, 2014, ''Manhattan'' was renewed for a second season. Production on season 2 wrapped on July 24, 2015.

David Saltzberg David Paul Saltzberg is an experimental particle physicist and a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, who is known for his science consultancy work on various television shows and films, such as ''The Big Bang Theory'', ''Manh ...

, a physicist at

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

, acted as the scientific consultant for the show, and Alex Wellerstein, a historian of science at

Stevens Institute of Technology Stevens Institute of Technology is a Private university, private research university in Hoboken, New Jersey. Founded in 1870, it is one of the oldest technological universities in the United States and was the first college in America solely de ...

who studies the history of nuclear weapons and secrecy, acted as a historical consultant for the show for Season 2, providing period detail to the writers. Creator Sam Shaw said although that at first the show seems to be about World War II, and the development of the atomic bomb, it was about two eras: the development of the atomic bomb, and after dropping of it on Japan. Speaking about a potential third season Shaw said "the most complicated and morally fascinating and dramatic aspects of the history don't come until after the end of World War II." Shaw noted that only Fritz, Meeks, and Winter knew exactly what happened at the end of season 2 and that going forward he hoped he would get to write that story. Shaw also said "I hope we'll get to follow characters in this moment when Los Alamos goes from being the best kept secret in the world to being the most famous city on the planet."

Episodes

Season 1 (2014)

Season 2 (2015)

Reception

Critical reception

Season 1 of ''Manhattan'' received highly positive reception from television critics and has a

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

score of 78 out of 100, based on 23 "generally favorable" reviews. The review aggregation website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

reports a 90% critics rating, with an average rating of 8.3/10 based on 31 reviews; the site's consensus reads: "Though slow to start, ''Manhattan'' is a top-notch drama thanks to a talented cast, beautiful cinematography, and a keen eye for period detail." Season 2 received further acclaim, scoring an 80 out of 100 based on nine reviews on Metacritic. Rotten Tomatoes reports a 93% approval rating, with an average rating of 8.7/10 based on 14 reviews, and the site's consensus reading, "''Manhattan''s slow-building intrigue and sense of impending doom deepen in season two, further enriching an already well-acted period drama."

Accolades

The series won the

Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Main Title Design This is a list of the winning and nominated programs of the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Main Title Design presented for the best main title sequence in television programming. Prior to 1997, the award was presented for Outstanding Indivi ...

for the

67th Primetime Emmy Awards The 67th Primetime Emmy Awards honored the best in US prime time television programming from June 1, 2014, until May 31, 2015, as chosen by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. The ceremony was held on Sunday, September 20, 2015, at the Mi ...

and also won the award for Excellence in Title Design at the 2015

South by Southwest South by Southwest (SXSW) is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Texas. It began in 1987 and has conti ...

festival.

Justin Kirk Justin Kirk (born May 28, 1969) is an American actor. He is best known for his roles as Prior Walter in the HBO miniseries ''Angels in America'' (2003), for which he received a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Ac ...

received a nomination for the

Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Guest Performer in a Drama Series The Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Guest Performer in a Drama Series was one of the award categories presented annually by the Critics' Choice Television Awards (BTJA) to recognize the work done by television actors. It was introduced in ...

for the 6th Critics' Choice Television Awards.

References

External links

* * {{EmmyAward MainTitleDesign 2010s American drama television series 2014 American television series debuts 2015 American television series endings American English-language television shows American historical television series Lesbian-related television shows Television series about the Manhattan Project Serial drama television series Television series based on actual events Television series by Lionsgate Television Television series by Skydance Television Television series by Tribune Entertainment Television series set in the 1940s Television shows set in New Mexico WGN America original programming