After conquering the small screen with BREAKING BAD, Bryan Cranston took to the Broadway stage with an acclaimed performance in the play ALL THE WAY. Last night, Cranston won the Tony for Best Actor while the play took home the top honor as well. Now, we may get to see Cranston play Lyndon Johnson one more time for producer Steven Spielberg.
Spielberg is optioning the play according to Deadline to adapt it as a TV mini-series. It is unknown whether the adaptation will air on HBO, AMC, or a network to be named later, but Spielberg wants Cranston to reprise his award-winning role.
[The] drama begins with the Kennedy assassination, and spans the first year of Johnson’s administration, from taking office and leveraging his power to pass Civil Rights legislation in Congress to his landslide re-election victory.
At this point, Cranston has not signed on for the mini-series and it remains unclear if anyone else from the stage production would be brought on for the adaptation. What is clear is that Cranston deserves more substantial roles than his turn in Gareth Edwards‘ GODZILLA and if the small screen is where he can get those, then bring it on. The guy has proven that he is an acting force given the right character and LBJ was certainly an intriguing one. Spielberg has proven to be strong when it comes to producing and directing historical films and mini-series, so hopefully he will be hands on when ALL THE WAY begins filming.