Supergirl's Melissa Benoist to Play David Koresh's Wife in Waco Miniseries
Melissa Benoist just landed a super new role.
The Supergirl star has signed on to play Rachel Koresh, the legal wife of cult leader David Koresh, in Waco, the six-part event series set to air on Paramount Network, formerly known as Spike, when it relaunches in January. The miniseries — based on the deadly 1993 standoff between Koresh’s Branch Davidian followers and the U.S. government in Waco, Texas — stars Friday Night Lights vet Taylor Kitsch as David Koresh and Boardwalk Empire alum Michael Shannon as lead FBI negotiator Gary Noesner.
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Benoist’s character Rachel was the de facto matriarch of the Branch Davidians, a splinter group of Seventh-Day Adventists who believed that David Koresh was the messiah. Also joining the Waco cast: Julia Garner (The Americans), who’ll play Rachel’s younger sister Michelle — who, yes, also had a baby with David Koresh. (He fathered more than a dozen children with several “wives.”) The previously announced cast includes John Leguizamo, Paul Sparks and Shea Whigham.
Benoist, of course, is currently starring as secret superhero Kara Danvers on The CW’s Supergirl, which wraps up its second season next month.
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