Boyd Holbrook to star in true-crime drama Executioner, playing killer Jack Henry Abbott who befriends novelist Norman Mailer

Deadline

The Narcos star will play the convicted murderer Abbott in the Legendary Television drama series created by Warrior writer Anthony Tambakis. "Set in 1981, the series follows one of the most scandalous events in New York City history, when Mailer helped get Abbott paroled from prison, leading to Abbott killing again, a nationwide manhunt, and the trial of the century in New York," according to Deadline. "Abbott, who was serving time in prison for forgery when he stabbed another inmate to death, wrote to Mailer, who was writing about convicted killer Gary Gilmore, alleging that Gilmore was embellishing his experiences in prison. Mailer helped Abbott write In the Belly of the Beast, about life in the prison system. The Executioner’s Song author subsequently endorsed Abbott’s attempts to gain parole. He was released in June 1981 and the next month, he killed a waiter in a restaurant in New York."