2017–2020 · Based on 2 seasons through February 3, 2020 ·
Manhunt is a serious crime drama based on two FBI cases from the 1980s and 1990s. In season one, FBI agent Jim Fitzgerald uses word clues to help find Ted Kaczynski, the Unabomber. The case puts him at odds with FBI leaders and strains his family life. In season two, security guard Richard Jewell is blamed for the 1996 Olympic Park bombing while the FBI searches for the real bomber, Eric Rudolph. Season two gives Black FBI agent Stacy Knox a key role in the search for Rudolph in rural North Carolina. Her race adds tension when she faces an armed local group, and the season also follows attacks on an abortion clinic and a lesbian club. Both seasons focus on clues, false accusations, and the harm caused by criminals and failed investigations. The later season spends more time on FBI and media mistakes.
Community feedback
Was our 23% Woke rating accurate?
Loading review details…
Breakdown
These are the editorial factors and ratings behind our score for Manhunt.
Woke representation / casting
Stacy Knox is a black woman and a senior FBI agent in season two. The season places her in a mostly white North Carolina town during the search for Rudolph. Sodroski said her presence there raised the stakes.
22%
Woke political dialogue
Not present. The dialogue stays with the cases and their investigations.
0%
Identity-driven story themes
The season follows Knox as second-in-command during the Rudolph search. The Black agent enters a mostly white town where local militia members resist the FBI. Her identity adds tension to that standoff.
17%
Western institutional / cultural critique
Not present. The series shows FBI and news media mistakes as part of its historical case stories.
0%
Woke character or canon changes
Not relevant. Stacy Knox is made from several agents, not one real agent shown with a changed identity.
0%
Anti-woke backlash and complaints
A Reddit commenter called Knox’s casting “woke PC” and objected to a black woman in a senior FBI role. One reply agreed with the complaint. The criticism appeared in one Reddit thread.
8%
Creator track record context
Andrew Sodroski has no known activist history, but he described the seasons as stories about people in systems and unity across groups. Sodroski also said Knox’s identity raised the stakes in season two. Donnetta Lavinia Grays has said her work aims to make queer black women’s stories more visible. Michael Dinner has framed earlier work around race and policing.
34%
Production
TV Show · 2026
Wrongfully imprisoned for murdering his own son, a father sets out on a desperate rescue mission after learning the boy may still be alive.
TV Show · 2020
Hiding a twisted past, a man maintains his facade as the perfect husband to his detective wife — until she begins investigating a series of murders.
TV Show · 2024
A young boy growing up in the suburbs of 1980s Brisbane faces the harsh realities of life — and the looming dangers that threaten his family.
TV Show · 2022
Lucy wakes every night at exactly 3:33am. Nothing in her life has made sense for a long time. But the answers are out there, somewhere, at the end of a trail of brutal murders.
TV Show · 2021
Three strangers share an obsession with true crime and suddenly find themselves wrapped up in one.
TV Show · 2019
When a novelist realizes her terrifying stories are coming true, she returns to her hometown to face the demons from her past that inspire her writing.
TV Show · 2021
Beneath the sunlit glamour of 1985 L.A. lurks a relentlessly evil serial killer. In this true-crime story, two detectives won't rest until they catch him.
TV Show · 2021
A psychopath's ruthless serial murders have left the entire nation gripped by fear and chaos. An honest, justice-seeking rookie police officer and a veteran detective with a…
