[Editor's note: The following contains some spoilers for Manhunt.]

The Big Picture

• The Apple TV+ series 'Manhunt' explores Abraham Lincoln's assassination aftermath and the hunt for John Wilkes Booth through Secretary of War Edwin Stanton's eyes.
• The series uncovers layers of the conspiracy, the cat-and-mouse game, and the Black American story that played a role in the trial.
• Tobias Menzies found the compelling story, deep character curation, and exploration of the relationship with Lincoln intriguing.

The Apple TV+ seven-part limited series Manhunt explores the aftermath of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln (Hamish Linklater) and the hunt to find John Wilkes Booth (Anthony Boyle). Told through the eyes of Secretary of War Edwin Stanton (Tobias Menzies), a little-known figure in American history, the story unfolds as a personal and political tale of what can happen when people feel threatened by change. One of the things that’s so interesting about this series is that, even though you think you know the story of this famous presidential assassination, you’ll discover that there were so many layers that you hadn’t realized, from the conspiracy that set things in motion, to the cat-and-mouse game to capture Booth, to the Black American woman that played an important role in the trial that brought it all to light.

During this interview with Collider, Menzies talked about why he found Manhunt so compelling, how he approached finding who Stanton was, the way Stanton viewed Lincoln throughout their time together, what it was like to work with Linklater when he was in character, the Black American story that’s woven in, and what was lost when Lincoln was assassinated. He also spoke of the fun he had making a film with Julia Louis-Dreyfus, and the mix of things he tends to look for in a project.

Collider: I found it so interesting to be so compelled by a story for which we already know the outcome. That really says something about the quality of the writing, the caliber of the acting, and the way it all comes together. What was the thing that most appealed to you? Was it the historical significance of it all? Was it something about your specific character? What was the first thing that really made you feel like you had to be a part of this?

TOBIAS MENZIES: Probably just the story. I was fascinated by a lot of the details that I wasn’t aware of. I knew that Lincoln had been killed in a theater by an actor, and I don’t think I knew much beyond that. There’s the vividness, complexity, and the sheer natural drama of what really happened over both the assassination and the timing of the assassination, within days of the end of the Civil War, and all the political and personal connections and relationships woven into it all. That was a pretty compelling thing to read, just to start with, and it made me very interested in being involved.

A character like this guy that you’re playing, Edwin Stanton, is a real-life historical figure, but he’s not one that the general population would know much of anything about if they’ve even heard his name before. How did you connect with him? What helped you in finding him and figuring out who he was?

MENZIES: In a way, it’s an act of curation. You’re reading about him and finding out who the real man was, but also building something that can be at the heart of this TV genre piece. It was a combination of that and (show creator) Monica [Beletsky]’s writing. There’s obviously an interesting physical component because he’s an asthmatic, which is a seam through it with the physical rigidity to him. That rides alongside this fierce moral compass, which drives him through it. He had a personal relationship with Lincoln and a political relationship with Lincoln, which he is, on both fronts, trying to salvage, in some way. Those ingredients are all woven together. He was a man of sometimes few words, and there’s something of the Western about it, with this manhunt structure of one man hunting another man. You’re borrowing on the iconography of cinema for that, as well. That’s why it felt like pretty rich territory.

'Manhunt's Tobias Menzies Feels the Flashbacks Give a Real Sense of the Lincoln and Stanton Dynamic

There’s such an interesting dynamic between your character and Abraham Lincoln, and we get little bits of it throughout the whole season. What was it like to explore that relationship and dynamic, and to find that with your co-star, Hamish Linklater? How did you see the relationship that they had with each other?

MENZIES: It was really easy to do. We had the good fortune to have Hamish Linklater playing Lincoln. He’s a brilliant actor and a great human being, so in a way, we got a lot for free, in terms of just having him to do it with. I think an important ingredient of this show is that through these flashbacks, you get a sense of the depth and the warmth of the relationship. It was ideological because together they were deep driving forces to freeing the slaves and that political agenda, which wasn’t over. When Lincoln is killed, they haven’t delivered on land rights and voting rights, so they were cut off midstream, in a way. And then, there was also a personal friendship. When they first met, Stanton didn’t think much of Lincoln. He was just a lawyer from Springfield. But he came to understand his political genius and his ability to bring disparate factions together and unify people. One of the books I read is called Team of Rivals, which is a book about the cabinet that Lincoln brought together during the Civil War. They were very, very different political personalities who often didn’t like each other politically, but he was able to draw them together to great effect, and Stanton came to understand the power of that.

When you’re doing a project like this and you’re playing a real-life historical figure, and you’re doing scenes opposite someone playing Abraham Lincoln, is it just two actors doing a scene together, or does it feel surreal to have a moment like that when you’re in it?

MENZIES: You park the meta aspect of it. You can’t replay the scene if you’re too busy thinking about who you are. You just have to be a person, and this is your friend, and you’re talking about what you’re talking about. You have to concrete it into the doable and not worry about that other aspect of it.

The Story of Mary Simms Plays a Big Role in 'Manhunt'

One of my favorite characters in the series is Mary Simms (Lovie Simone). I found myself really wanting to root for her. What was it like to do the scenes between your characters and to do all the courtroom preparation?

MENZIES: A big part of this show is an African American story. Monica was keen to articulate that throughout this piece, and at the heart of that is Mary Simms. There was a very natural frisson about those scenes. You can really feel the gears of history in those scenes, going to the encampment to ask her to take the stand and testify. There’s a poignancy about that because we, as an audience, know that a lot was lost through the death of Lincoln, and it took so long to get those rights back, until the Civil Rights movement. There’s a great poignancy, naturally, around that character, to a certain degree.

Acting is one of the professions where you can grow up watching and loving certain actors, and then you might become an actor and find yourself sharing scenes with the same actors that you used to watch. What is one of those moments that stands out for you? Is there someone that you were a fan of, that you later found yourself on set sharing scenes with?

MENZIES: I can think of quite a few examples. I worked a couple of years ago with Julia Louis-Dreyfus. I made a film (You Hurt My Feelings) with her, and obviously, Seinfeld is in everyone’s blood, and lots of other amazing work. So, it was a real thrill to get to act with someone like that. One of the really fun parts of this job is that sometimes you get to work with heroes.

Tobias Menzies Pursues Projects With a Combination of Logic and Intuition

Do you know what you’re going to be working on next? How do you approach which roles you’re going to play? Is it an immediate connection that you have, especially since you have amassed quite an interesting array of characters?

MENZIES: That’s nice to hear. It’s a bit of a mixture of the writing, who’s doing it, and whether the story resonates. It’s partly logical and partly intuition, and a bit of a mixture. I like the variety. I’m in New York at the moment doing a play (The Hunt) at St. Ann’s Warehouse in Brooklyn. It’s the variety that I’m drawn to, I guess.

What do you enjoy about doing theater and having that live reaction from the audience? It feels like it’s such a different experience to when it’s so contained in a film or a TV series.

MENZIES: It’s the same muscles, but a different kind of frame, I guess. As you said, it’s a live experience, so you get very immediate feedback. There’s a possibility of generating energy in that room each night, which you don’t really get in the more dissipated experiences of filming, which is broken up when you’re doing it in little bits. There are different challenges. When theater is good, it can be very exciting.

Manhunt is available to stream on Apple TV+. Check out the trailer:

Watch on Apple TV+