HBO is taking on the infamous Watergate scandal in a new limited series coming to the network this spring. "White House Plumbers," which comes from the same producers behind "Succession" and "Veep," recalls a behind-the-scenes story of how former President Richard Nixon's "own political saboteurs and Watergate masterminds, E. Howard Hunt (Woody Harrelson) and G. Gordon Liddy (Justin Theroux), accidentally toppled the presidency they were zealously trying to protect," per the show's logline.
"Chronicling actions on the ground, this satirical drama begins in 1971 when the White House hires Hunt and Liddy, former CIA and FBI, respectively, to investigate the Pentagon Papers leak," the synopsis continues. "After failing upward, the unlikely pair lands on the committee to re-elect the President, plotting several unbelievable covert ops — including bugging the Democratic National Committee offices at the Watergate complex."
Per the show's trailer that arrived on March 30, "White House Plumbers," based on real-life events [1], appears to be a humourous take on how "history can sometimes be stranger than fiction," as it aims to "shed light on the lesser-known series of events that led to one of America's greatest political crimes."
The Watergate scandal, also known as the Pentagon Papers leak, was last revisited by Starz's "Gaslit" [2] — starring Julia Roberts [3], Sean Penn [4], and Shea Whigham — in 2022. However, that political thriller instead focussed on how Martha Mitchell, the wife of United States attorney general and presidential campaign chairman John Mitchell, got roped into the chaos and cover-up of the crime.
Read ahead for everything else we know about HBO's "White House Plumbers."
"White House Plumbers" Cast
Harrelson and Theroux lead the "White House Plumbers" cast — which also includes Lena Headey as Dorothy Hunt, Judy Greer as Fran Liddy, Domhnall Gleeson as John Dean, and Toby Huss as James McCord.
Others in the show's cast are Ike Barinholtz (Jeb Magruder), Kathleen Turner (Dita Beard), Kim Coates (Frank Sturgis), Yul Vazquez (Bernard "Macho" Barker), Alexis Valdés (Felipe De Diego), Nelson Ascencio (Virgilio "Villo" Gonzalez), Tony Plana (Eugenio "Muscolito" Martinez), Zoe Levin (Lisa Hunt), Liam James (Saint John Hunt), Kiernan Shipka (Kevan Hunt), Tre Ryder (David Hunt), David Krumholtz (William O. Bittman), F. Murray Abraham (Judge Sirica), Rich Sommer (Egil "Bud" Krogh), and John Carroll Lynch (John Mitchell).
"White House Plumbers" Release Date
The five-episode limited series premieres on HBO and HBO Max on May 1.