For some, a screen adaptation of the story of J. Robert Oppenheimer and the Manhattan project seems like a truly fresh idea and something they haven’t really seen before. For fans of prestige television however, it may sound familiar.
In 2014 came “Manhattan,” a two-season TV series set around the Manhattan Project research facility in Los Alamos, New Mexico. Set in 1943 and 1944, it followed the scientists who worked on their project and their families living in this secret and newly created town where secrecy is paramount.
Clocking in at 23 episodes, it starred the likes of John Benjamin Hickey, Olivia Williams, Ashley Zukerman, Rachel Brosnahan, Daniel Stern, Katja Herbers, Theodore Sinclair, Harry Lloyd and former “CSI” alum William Petersen in regular roles. David Harbour, Neve Campbell, Richard Schiff and Peter Stormare among others also recurred.
The project was the first drama production for WGN America, the cable network which only dabbled in the original series wading pool with a handful of titles, including “Salem” and “Outsiders”. Reviews were strong with the show pulling in a 78/100 for its first and 80/100 for its second season on Metacritic.
However the audience simply wasn’t there, the streaming boom was still very much in its earliest infancy, and ratings were sadly low enough that the show was cancelled after its second season. Now a new piece in Vanity Fair has gone into the show’s legacy and revealed an interesting fact.
It turns out Cillian Murphy, who plays Oppenheimer in Christopher Nolan’s new film, was actually up for the role in the series. Writer Lila Byock tells the outlet: “When we were casting Oppenheimer, we went through a whole series of different ideas. There were actually some rock stars we considered.”
Showrunner Sam Shaw (“Castle Rock”) revealed that two names that were seriously considered were Murphy and “The Bear” actor Ebon Moss-Bachrach. Shaw says: “A thousand per cent, Cillian Murphy was on that list.”
Ultimately Daniel London (“Minority Report”) won the role, which was only a supporting character in the series as opposed to its focus. The pair say they have hopes that people who walk out of “Oppenheimer” track down the series.
Byock says: “I think that would be really a great outcome. There are obviously so many stories to be told about Los Alamos and about that moment in American history. There is room for many, many versions of it.”
They may have gotten their wish as “Manhattan” has jumped to near the top of the iTunes TV series charts in the past week. The series also now streams on AMC+ and for free on Tubi and Amazon Freevee.
The show also has one explicit link with the film in the form of actor Christopher Denham. Denham played the fictional spy Jim Meeks in “Manhattan” and plays the real-life spy Klaus Fuchs in “Oppenheimer”.
