Law & Order True Crime: The Menendez Murders has found its Gil Garcetti.
Mad Men alum Mark Moses has been cast as the former Los Angeles County district attorney, while Kate Beahan (Mistresses) is set to portray famed news anchor Diane Sawyer, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.
The eight-episode first installment of the anthology is described as a “gripping in-depth dramatization” of the famed murder case that took America by storm in the early 1990s. When brothers Lyle and Erik Menendez were tried on national TV for brutally killing their parents in Beverly Hills on Aug. 20, 1989, their story became a nationwide obsession. Law & Order True Crime: The Menendez Murders dives into the players, the crime and the media circus, detailing the day-to-day battles of the trial and unveiling the shocking truth of what really went down behind the scenes.
Moses’ Garcetti is described as “hard-charging, corporate and cold-blooded.” Newly elected as the district attorney for L.A. County, he has no intention of losing the Menendez case. Moses follows in the footsteps of Bruce Greenwood, who recently portrayed the father of current Los Angeles mayor Eric Garcetti in The People v. O.J. Simpson.
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Meanwhile, Beahan will play a young Sawyer during her network correspondent years. She is determined to get her story and anxious to scoop her competitors with an ABC Special Report on the Menendez murders.
Law & Order True Crime follows in the vein of true-crime scripted dramas like The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story. Law & Order vet Rene Balcer serves as showrunner, while Lesli Linka Glatter (Homeland) will direct several episodes. The two will executive produce with Dick Wolf, Peter Jankowski and Arthur W. Forney. Universal Television will produce in association with Wolf Films.
Moses’ other credits include Desperate Housewives, The Last Ship and a recent episode of Wolf’s Law and Order: SVU. He is repped by Innovative Artists.
Beahan’s other credits include Devious Maids, The Wicker Man and Flightplan. She is repped by Pakula, King & Associates, Principal Entertainment LA and Stone Genow.
Law & Order True Crime: The Menendez Murders is set to premiere Tuesday, Sept. 26, at 10 p.m. ET/PT on NBC.
