Bryan Cranston to make TV return as President Lyndon Johnson in HBO Broadway adaptation
The Breaking Bad actor will reprise his Broadway role for the new TV film
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Your support makes all the difference.Bryan Cranston is returning to television following the phenomenal success of Breaking Bad.
The Emmy Award-winning actor is to play former US President Lyndon B Johnson in an HBO adaption of the Broadway play All the Way, which he starred in this year.
All the Way follows LBJ during his tumultuous first year in office as he takes the oath following President Kennedy’s assassination, copes with the escalation of the Vietnam War and launches his landmark civil rights bill.
Cranston, who made his Broadway debut in the play, went on to win the Tony Award for his portrayal of the democratic President.
The play closed last month on 29 June after breaking Broadway box office records to gross over $1.4 million in its opening week.
Playwright Robert Schenkkan will adapt the stage version for the small screen, with Steven Spilegberg on board to serve as an executive producer on the HBO Films project.
But like last year’s acclaimed HBO TV film Behind the Candelabra, All the Way will not be eligible for an Oscar.
Not that that is likely to put an end to Cranston’s recent run of award wins, having picked up three Emmys, a Golden Globe, a Tony Award and three Screen Actors Guild Awards in the past year.
The actor is rumoured to re-appear in AMC’s Breaking Bad spin-off Better Call Saul next year after series executive producer hinted he would bring back characters from the hit series.
Earliest this year, Cranston said he would “never say never” to the idea of a Breaking Bad film.
The actor most recently starred in summer blockbuster Godzilla as nuclear physicist Joe Brody.
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