Showtime Documentary ‘Kingdom of Silence’ To Premiere On Two-Year Anniversary Of Jamal Khashoggi Murder

Greg Evans
·2 min read

Showtime will premiere its original documentary Kingdom of Silence about the 2018 murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi on October 2 – the two-year anniversary of Khashoggi’s death.

Directed by Emmy-winning Documenting Hate filmmaker Rick Rowley and exec-produced by Alex Gibney in collaboration with Lawrence Wright, Kingdom of Silence examines the relationship between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia as a backdrop to the murder of Khashoggi. Showtime made the premiere date announcement today, and released a trailer (watch it above).

“With the killing of Khashoggi as a launching point, Kingdom of Silence will explore the history between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia in the decades leading up to today’s troubling interactions between the Trump administration and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman,” according to Showtime. “In the process, the film shines new light on Khashoggi’s remarkable journey – from the battlefields of Afghanistan to the halls of power in Riyadh and Washington, from the Arab Spring to the rise of Saudi Arabia’s new Crown Prince.”

Rowley’s credits include 16 Shots, about the Chicago police shooting of a 17-year-old Black boy, and Dirty Wars, chronicling America’s covert wars. Gibney and Wright previously collaborated on the Emmy-nominated series The Looming Tower and the three-time Emmy-winning documentary Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief.

The new documentary is produced by Samuel Black and Trevor Davidoski at Gibney’s Jigsaw Productions. Gibney, Wright, Stacey Offman and Richard Perello serve as executive producers.

Kingdom of Silence premieres Friday, October 2 at 9 pm ET/PT on Showtime. Check out the trailer above.

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