Showtime Is Already Making A Limited Series On The Capitol Riots
Less than a week into the new year, 2021 revealed itself to be the opposite of the blank slate we all hoped it would be. On January 6, Washington D.C. erupted in riots, as supporters of former President Donald Trump stormed the U.S. Capitol in a terrifying display of violence. The Capitol riots instantly put a stain on 2021, revealing that the nightmare of 2020 was far from over. And for some reason, Showtime wants us all to relive it.
Variety reports that Showtime is developing a limited series on the January 6 Capitol riots from Billy Ray and Shane Salerno, who previously worked on the Showtime series The Comey Rule. Ray will write the series in addition to directing, with Salerno executive producing. Josh McLaughlin will also executive produce, with Showtime producing.
Per Variety, "the limited series will examine and explore multiple points of view of the events leading up to the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, including the final days of the Trump administration, and culminate with the attack itself, the aftermath, and the FBI and Congressional investigations."
A quick recap of the Capitol riots: On January 6, a mob of Trump supporters, who had gathered in D.C. to protest the results of the November 2020 presidential elections, stormed and breached the U.S. Capitol Building while members of Congress were in the process of counting electoral votes that would formally declare Joe Biden as the next president of the United States. Lawmakers were evacuated, but the rioters flooded the Capitol complex, occupying and ransacking the empty Senate and House of Representatives chambers.
The supporters had been whipped into a frenzy over false claims of "election fraud" by Trump, who resisted calling in the National Guard to stop the mob, leaving understaffed Capitol Security to fend off the rioters. No lawmakers were injured during the incident, though five people died or were fatally injured overall — a Capitol Police officer and four rioters. It was deemed by many to essentially have been a failed coup by Trump's supporters to keep him in office, and the FBI has categorized it as an incident of domestic terrorism.
The Capitol riots are already regarded as an awful stain on U.S. history, and one that we aren't eager to relive anytime soon, but apparently the embargo for real-life events getting turned into a shiny scripted drama has shortened into a couple months. A Capitol riots limited series so soon after the actual incident seems ill-advised to begin with, but Ray and Salerno's The Comey Rule wasn't considered a grand success either — the limited series starring Brendan Gleeson as as Trump and Jeff Daniels as former FBI director James Comey debuted to middling reviews in September and hasn't left much of a cultural impact since its release.
For now, stay tuned on the casting announcements for this inevitable Capitol riots series.