Manhunt (2017)

Manhunt (2017) is a biographical crime drama that follows FBI profiler James R. Fitzgerald as he joins the Unabom task force in 1995 to help identify and capture the Unabomber, Ted Kaczynski. The series dramatizes the nearly 20-year manhunt, focusing on the breakthrough use of forensic linguistics and other unconventional, newly developed investigative techniques that ultimately point the team toward their suspect. Told as a tightly serialized, darkly psychological procedural, the story probes both the mechanics of the investigation and the psychological cost exacted on the agents who live inside the minds of violent criminals. The show balances meticulous, methodical detective work—case meetings, linguistic analysis of bombers’ manifestos and letters, and painstaking evidence-gathering—with tense, moral-ambiguous moments as agents push legal and ethical boundaries to close the case. It reconstructs the period and the mounting pressure on the task force as the bombings continue, highlighting the intellectual duel between profiler and perpetrator and the growing obsession that accompanies long-term investigations. As a viewer you can expect a slow-burn, suspenseful experience that emphasizes psychological drama over action set pieces. Manhunt offers cerebral thrills: forensic puzzle-solving, courtroom- and newsroom-adjacent drama, and character-driven scenes that reveal the mental toll on those hunting a methodical, ideologically driven killer. The tone is gritty and atmospheric, with an emphasis on realism and the procedural rigor of the FBI in a high-stakes, historic case. If you appreciate true-crime adaptations that foreground technique, tension, and the human consequences of prolonged detective work, this series delivers.

Actors: Gethin Anthony, Arliss Howard, Kelly Jenrette

Genres: Biography, Crime, Drama

8.1 /10 8.1 /10