‘Gaslit’: Betty Gilpin To Play Mo Dean, Joining Dan Stevens As John Dean In Starz’s Watergate Drama; Shea Whigham & Darby Camp Also Cast

Denise Petski
·4 min read
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EXCLUSIVE: Emmy-nominated Betty Gilpin (GLOW) will play Mo Dean, joining Dan Stevens as her husband John Dean in Starz’s Watergate drama Gaslit, starring Julia Roberts and Sean Penn. Also cast as series regulars are Shea Whigham (Joker, Perry Mason) and Darby Camp (The Christmas Chronicles, Big Little Lies) in the drama based on the first season of the Slate podcast Slow Burn. The series is currently filming in Los Angeles.

Gaslit is a modern take on Watergate that focuses on the untold stories and forgotten characters of the scandal – from Nixon’s bumbling, opportunistic subordinates to the deranged zealots aiding and abetting their crimes to the tragic whistleblowers who would eventually bring the whole rotten enterprise crashing down.

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The series is created and executive produced by Robbie Pickering (Mr. Robot, Search Party). Matt Ross (Captain Fantastic) will direct and executive produce.

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The story will center on Martha Mitchell (Roberts). A big personality with an even bigger mouth, Martha is a celebrity Arkansan socialite and wife to Nixon’s loyal Attorney General, John Mitchell (Penn). Despite her party affiliation, she’s the first person to publicly sound the alarm on Nixon’s involvement in Watergate, causing both the presidency and her personal life to unravel. As attorney general, Mitchell is Nixon’s most trusted adviser and best friend. Temperamental, foulmouthed and ruthless – yet hopelessly in love with his famously outspoken wife – he’ll be forced to choose between Martha and the president.

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Gilpin’s Mo Dean is a former stewardess who meets John Dean on a blind date and falls in love with him just as he becomes embroiled in Watergate. Sharp and quick-thinking, Mo learns her new husband is a principal figure in the scandal as they’re both thrust onto a national stage.

Stevens’ John Dean is a hotshot young lawyer who is climbing the ranks of White House Counsel when the Watergate break-in occurs. He finds himself in the center of a political scandal, realizing that he’s bound himself to an administration that wants him to take the fall.

Whigham plays G. Gordon Liddy, a former FBI agent and chief operative of Nixon’s “Plumbers” unit who spearheads the Watergate espionage operation as part of Nixon’s 1972 reelection campaign. A zealot and true believer, Liddy follows his own moral code, which drives him to protect the President at all costs.

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Camp is Marty Mitchell, Martha Mitchell’s daughter, who spent much of her young life living in her mother’s shadow. Accustomed to being dressed up and paraded around parties, Marty has to choose between her parents as their marriage falls apart.

Along with Pickering, Matt Ross (Captain Fantastic, 28 Hotel Rooms) will direct and executive produce, and Sam Esmail (Homecoming, Mr. Robot), via his overall deal with UCP, and Chad Hamilton (Mr. Robot, Homecoming) serve as executive producers under their production banner Esmail Corp. Roberts will executive produce under her banner Red Om Films along with co-executive producers Lisa Gillan and Marisa Yeres Gill. Anonymous Content and Slate’s Gabriel Roth and Josh Levin will also executive produce. Leon Neyfakh, who created the podcast, will consult on the project. Gaslit is produced by UCP, a division of Universal Studio Group, for Starz.

Gaslit will air on Starz in the U.S. and Canada and on its international premium streaming platform Starzplay across Europe, Latin America and Japan.

Three-time Emmy nominee Gilpin received critical praise for her portrayal of Debbie Eagan/Liberty Belle on GLOW, which aired for three seasons on Netflix. Scrubs alum Gilpin recently starred in Craig Zobel’s film The Hunt and next can be seen in Amazon’s The Tomorrow War, opposite Chris Pratt and J.K. Simmons. Gilpin is repped by ICM Partners, Anonymous Content and Hansen Jacobson Teller.

Whigham played Thomas Carrasco in the first season of Amazon’s Homecoming alongside Roberts. He most recently was seen in Perry Mason and as Detective Burke in the feature Joker. He’s repped by CAA and Range Media Partners.

Camp most recently was seen reprising the role of Kate in the feature The Christmas Chronicles: Part 2 and as Chloe MacKenzie in Big Little Lies. She’s repped by Paradigm.

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