'Aquarius': Meet Its Charles Manson

In NBC’s new drama Aquarius, David Duchovny stars as homicide detective Sam Hodiak, a man who, in 1967, agrees to look for an ex-girlfriend’s missing 16-year-old daughter (Emma Dumont) — who has been lured into a band of drifters led by wannabe rock star Charles Manson.

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Game of Thrones fans will recognize Gethin Anthony (Renly Baratheon), the actor behind this fictionalized Manson, who at this point — two years before the Tate-LaBianca murders — is a petty criminal. In the exclusive first look at his character profile above, we see his various tactics of persuasion, from sweet talk to a sharpened knife.

Duchovny recently explained to Yahoo TV why he was drawn to the series from writer John McNamara (In Plain Sight). “I loved the set-up of the series, which was to use Manson as a symbol of where the ‘60s went dark, or where America turned right, really, after having gone left in the Summer of Love,” he said. “I love being able to revisit that time, because I think as a country, we keep coming back to it. I think we come back to the '60s not just for the bell-bottoms and the tie-dye. We come back to it — such a revolutionary time, such a pivotal time — and [ask] why did we make that move right? Why did history take the form that it did?”

The two-hour premiere of Aquarius airs May 28 at 9 p.m. on NBC. Immediately afterward, Season 1’s 13 episodes will be available for binging on NBC.com, the NBC app, and video-on-demand platforms.