Coming Soon: AMC’s Story of Spies & American Revolution

AMC’s new period drama Turn will follow the story of real-life Abraham Woodhull and the Culper Spy Ring, a group of American spies working under George Washington during the American Revolution in 1778. The show will be based on the non-fiction book Washington’s Spies by Alexander Rose.

Rose’s novel is set in the summer of 1778, General George Washington desperately needed to know where the British would strike next. To that end, he unleashed his secret weapon: an unlikely ring of spies in New York, Long Island, and Connecticut charged with discovering the enemy’s battle plans and military strategy.

Washington’s small band included a young Quaker torn between political principle and family loyalty, a swashbuckling sailor addicted to the perils of espionage, a hard-drinking barkeep, a Yale-educated cavalryman and friend of the doomed Nathan Hale, and a peaceful, sickly farmer who begged Washington to let him retire but who always came through in the end. Personally guiding these brave, flawed, everyday heroes was Washington himself. In an era when gentlemen were officers, and gentlemen didn’t spy, he possessed an extraordinary talent for deception—and proved an adept spymaster.

The men he mentored were dubbed the Culper Ring. The British secret service tried to hunt them down, but they escaped by the closest of shaves thanks to their ciphers, dead drops, and invisible ink. Washington’s Spies tells the unknown story of the Revolution—one encompassing the murderous intelligence war, the gunrunning, the kidnappings, and the defections—that has never appeared in the history books. But the book is also a spirited, touching account of friendship and trust, fear and betrayal, amid the dark and silent world of the spy.

Abraham Woodhull (left) & Caleb Brewster (right)

The trailer is the first look at how director Rupert Wyatt (Rise of the Planet of the Apes) and writer Craig Silverstein (Nikita) are going to portray the story. And although the trailer is very brief, it looks like the show will be action packed and fast paced. Turn will air in 2014.
Hat tip: Screen Rant