Jane Lynch to play Janet Reno in Discovery's Manifesto

Discovery is laying down the law with huge casting news for its upcoming series Manifesto.

The network announced Thursday Golden Globe and Emmy-winning actress Jane Lynch will play the role of former U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno in the scripted series, which revolves around FBI agent Jim “Fitz” Fitzgerald’s radical approach to gathering intelligence in pursuit of the criminal mastermind and deadly anarchist Ted Kaczynski, otherwise known as the Unabomber, who embarked on a fatal bombing campaign that claimed the lives of three people between 1978 and 1995.

Confirmed on March 11, 1993 after a nomination from President Bill Clinton, Reno, then 57, became the first woman to hold the position of attorney general. During her tenure, which ended in 2001, the Department of Justice oversaw the hunt for Kaczynski and his eventual arrest.

Lynch, perhaps best known for her role on Glee and in various Christopher Guest productions (A Mighty Wind, Best in Show), joins Manifesto‘s ensemble cast, which includes Avatar‘s Sam Worthington as Fitzgerald (who serves as a consulting producer), A Beautiful Mind actor Paul Bettany as Kaczynski, Chris Noth as Don Ackerman, head of the FBI’s Unabomber task force, and Oscar-nominated actress Keisha Castle-Hughes as Tabby, an agent who aligns with Fitzgerald.

The project marks Bettany and Worthington’s first major lead roles on a U.S. television series, while Castle-Hughes previously appeared on HBO’s Game of Thrones, Showtime’s Roadies, and in a single episode of The Walking Dead.

The project is produced by John Goldwyn, who serves as a consultant to Discovery, Lionsgate, Trigger Street Productions, and Discovery Channel. Emmy-winner and Manifesto showrunner Greg Yaitanes (Quarry, Banshee) is set to executive-produce and direct the series, which was created by executive producer Andrew Sodroski.

Manifesto enters production Jan. 30 in Atlanta, and is scheduled to debut on Discovery later in 2017.