A new trailer for the upcoming miniseries Waco has been released, and damn if this doesn’t really feel like the moment Taylor Kitsch breaks out at long last. Like the first trailer, he is the focus with Michael Shannon riding shotgun, and Kitsch is so compelling as David Koresh you don’t even miss Shannon’s intensity. Michael Shannon is a TREMENDOUS actor, and though the trailers seem deliberately cut to minimize his presence in favor of Kitsch, there is still an impression of Kitsch operating on a level commensurate with Shannon. I don’t imagine they’ll have a lot of shared screen time, but man, I hope there’s at least one scene between them. I want to see them go toe to toe.
I continue to like the look of this miniseries, and Kitsch still looks uncanny as Koresh. But we also get a better look at Rory Culkin as David Thibodeau, a Branch Davidian survivor whose book is one of the foundation texts for the miniseries (the other is retired FBI hostage negotiator Gary Noesner’s memoir, Michael Shannon plays him). And it is interesting that this trailer is sympathetic toward the Branch Davidians. People remain fiercely divided on what really happened and who is more at fault for the siege’s disastrous outcome—I recommend Last Podcast on the Left’s excellent episode about it for an overview—and this looks set to reignite the debate. That’ll be super fun for everyone, I’m sure. But most of us, I assume, are here for Kitsch. We’re pulling for him, and want this to work out the way True Detective season two didn’t. The trailers so far are excellent. If the show delivers, maybe we’ll get to see Taylor Kitsch at the Emmys next year.
