WGN AMERICA'S EXPLOSIVE ORIGINAL DRAMA "MANHATTAN" ROCKS OPENING NIGHT OF THE NEW YORK TELEVISION FESTIVAL

EXCLUSIVE SCREENING AND PANEL EVENT CELEBRATES THE SECOND SEASON OF THE EMMY AWARD-WINNING SERIES ON MONDAY, OCTOBER 19

'Manhattan' Stars John Benjamin Hickey, Ashley Zukerman, Rachel Brosnahan, Michael Chernus, Katja Herbers and Mamie Gummer; Series Creator/Executive Producer Sam Shaw and Director/Executive Producer Thomas Schlamme Revealed What Awaits Fans in Season Two

New York, NY- October 26, 2015 - The cast and creative team of WGN America's critically lauded drama "Manhattan," celebrated season two in the show's namesake city this week, with a screening and panel event on Monday, October 19, the opening night of the New York Television Festival, at New York City's SVA Theatre. Following opening remarks from Peter Liguori, President and CEO, Tribune Media Company, stars John Benjamin Hickey, Ashley Zukerman, Rachel Brosnahan, Michael Chernus, Katja Herbers and Mamie Gummer along with series creator/executive producer Sam Shaw and director/executive producer Thomas Schlamme took in a screening of the sophomore season's second episode and participated in a panel and talkback moderated by Closer Weekly's Bruce Fretts.

Hailed as "audacious" by the New York Times and "the bomb" by New York Magazine, the second season of WGN America's critically acclaimed and Emmy-nominated original drama series "Manhattan" follows the tangled lives of the residents of Los Alamos, New Mexico, as they race to create the first nuclear bomb in history. From creator and writer Sam Shaw ("Masters of Sex") and Emmy(R) Award-winning director Thomas Schlamme ("The West Wing"), locked away in the world's most secretive city, the scientists and their families surrender their freedoms, compromise their marriages, and even sacrifice their sanity to end one war and usher in another - the Cold War waiting just over the atomic horizon - all while embedded spies and a climate of paranoia threaten to destroy the project from within. Season two of "Manhattan" airs Tuesdays at 9:00 p.m. ET / 8:00 p.m. CT.

"Manhattan" stars Emmy-nominated actor John Benjamin Hickey ("The Big C," "The Good Wife") as Frank Winter, a brilliant and unrelenting physicist who was the driving force behind the design of the world's first weapon of mass destruction and who's now beginning to question how it will be used. Olivia Williams ("Rushmore," "The Ghost Writer") stars as his wife, Liza Winter, an accomplished scientist in her own right who battles the Hill's draconian security state presided over by Col. Emmett Darrow, the new ranking military officer played by Golden Globe-nominated actor William Petersen ("CSI: Crime Scene Investigation"). Ashley Zukerman ("The Code," "Rush") and Rachel Brosnahan ("House of Cards," "The Dovekeepers") co-star as Charlie and Abby Isaacs, a young couple who both embrace and struggle with their unexpected new power on The Hill. Co-starring as the brilliant scientists Frank Winter recruited to the Project are Harry Lloyd ("The Theory of Everything," "Game of Thrones") as the polished, privileged British physicist Paul Crosley; Katja Herbers ("The Americans," "De Storm") as the tough, witty and bright Dr. Helen Prins; Christopher Denham ("Argo," "Shutter Island") as the principled, fastidious and deeply loyal Jim Meeks; and Michael Chernus ("Orange Is The New Black," "The Big C") as the sweet and affable Louis "Fritz" Fedowitz - one of the few whose personal life has flourished in New Mexico's city of secrets.

Mamie Gummer ("The Good Wife," "Cake") joins the season two cast as Nora, a member of the Women's Army Corps who undergoes a political awakening when she's assigned to a post at Los Alamos. Emmy and Golden Globe-nominated actor Griffin Dunne ("Dallas Buyers Club," "After Hours") plays Woodrow Lorentzen, a tenacious and self-destructive newspaper reporter who finds his way inside the gates of The Hill and discovers not only the scoop of a lifetime, but a chance to turn his life around.

Filmed on location in New Mexico, WGN America's "Manhattan" is an original one-hour drama series produced by Lionsgate Television, Skydance Television and Tribune Studios. The series is executive produced by Sam Shaw, Thomas Schlamme, Dustin Thomason, David Ellison, Dana Goldberg and Marcy Ross.

About WGN America and Tribune Studios

WGN America, the flagship entertainment network of Tribune Media Company is nationally distributed in 74 million homes via cable, satellite and telco, with high-quality entertainment programming including the breakout hit series "Salem," critically acclaimed drama "Manhattan," and upcoming scripted dramas "Underground," "Outsiders" and "Ten Commandments." The network also brings its audience a strong slate of popular first-run syndicated series and blockbuster movies. Through Tribune Studios, the creative development arm of Tribune Media, original content is produced for WGN America and Tribune local stations nationwide. Follow the network on Twitter @wgnamerica. For additional information, please visit www.wgnamerica.com.