Yahoo News ‘Waco’ Follow-Up Series to Debut on Showtime
Paramount Global continues to play musical chairs with some of its programming.
The conglomerate on Wednesday announced that Waco: The Aftermath, the follow-up to the 2018 limited series, will debut on Showtime. The show was originally picked up to air as a Paramount+ original after its precursor launched on Paramount Network.
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Waco: The Aftermath stars Michael Shannon. The actor recently starred in Showtime’s George & Tammy, which became a Showtime original after it was originally picked up for Spectrum with a deal for a second window on Paramount Network.
The Aftermath will debut April 14 on Showtime’s streaming and on-demand platforms before its linear debut April 16 at 10 p.m. That coincides with the 30th anniversary of the fallout of the Waco disaster.
The series follows the trials of the surviving members of the Branch Davidian sect and the rise of Timothy McVeigh. Showtime says the five-episode series also “provides a broader context for the escalation of the American militia movement, which foreshadows the infamous attacks of the Oklahoma City bombing and the storming of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.”
In an effort for further cohesion, the 2018 Waco series that originally aired on Paramount Network will also be available to Showtime subscribers starting March 3 (nonlinear platforms) and March 5 on the premium cable network.
The Waco shift is the latest to follow Paramount Global executive Chris McCarthy adding Showtime to the suite of linear networks that he oversees. McCarthy recently announced that the linear network will be rebranded as Paramount+ With Showtime to match the premium tier of the streamer as the exec merges both services in a bid to provide scale and compete with other subscription platforms. The rebranding also includes a shift in content strategy, as McCarthy scrapped premium fare including Three Women and Ripley while rescuing Netflix’s canceled Darren Star comedy Uncoupled. The latter series is produced by MTV Studios, with the executive team behind the series recently given oversight of Showtime following a round of layoffs that impacted 120 staffers including one of its top scripted execs.
In addition to Shannon, John Leguizamo, Giovanni Ribisi, David Costabile, J. Smith Cameron, John Hoogenakker, Keean Johnson and Abbey Lee star in Waco: The Aftermath. Drew Dowdle and John Erick Dowdle return as showrunners and exec produce alongside Shannon, Taylor Kitsch, Andrew Gettens and Lauren Mackenzie. The series is produced by 101 Studios and Spyglass.
