MICHAEL NOURI AND BEN WEBER JOIN DISCOVERY'S HIGHLY-ANTICIPATED SCRIPTED SERIES "MANIFESTO"

Filming Starts in Atlanta on January 30

(LOS ANGELES and SANTA MONICA) - Discovery Channel announced today that Michael Nouri ("Woman Walks Ahead," "The Slap") and Ben Weber ("Sex and the City," "Secret Life of the American Teenager") have been cast in its upcoming highly-anticipated scripted series MANIFESTO, set to air this year. Produced by John Goldwyn, serving as consultant to Discovery, Lionsgate, Trigger Street Productions and Discovery Channel, the series will tell the story of how FBI agent Jim "Fitz" Fitzgerald (Sam Worthington, "Avatar," "Hacksaw Ridge") deployed a radical approach to intelligence gathering to take down Ted Kaczynski, portrayed by Paul Bettany ("Gangster No. 1," "Captain America: Civil War"), also known as the "Unabomber," one of the most infamous criminal masterminds in the world. Emmy(R) Award-winning television producer and director Greg Yaitanes ("Quarry," "Banshee") will executive produce, direct and serve as showrunner. Andrew Sodroski, whose "Holland, Michigan" topped Hollywood's famed Black List for screenplays in 2013, created the series and serves as an Executive Producer. Jim Fitzgerald will serve as Consulting Producer.

Nouri will play Penthouse founder Bob Guccione and Weber will play the role of Andy Genelli, former head of the Unabom Task Force. Discovery also recently announced Golden Globe and two-time Emmy winner Jane Lynch ("Glee," "Hollywood Game Night") will play the role of former U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno. Other cast includes Golden Globe(R) nominee Chris Noth ("The Good Wife," "Sex In The City") as Don Ackerman, the Bay Area Divisional Head of the FBI, who supervised the Unabomber Task Force; Oscar(R) nominee Keisha Castle-Hughes ("Roadies," "Game of Thrones") as Tabby, a street agent who partners with Fitz; Mark Duplass ("Togetherness," "Blue Jay") as David Kaczynski, Ted Kaczynski's younger brother; Jeremy Bobb ("The Knick," "Godless") as Stan Cole, a seasoned FBI agent and Ackerman's "foul-mouthed pit bull"; Lynn Collins ("X-Men Origins: Wolverine") as Natalie, a post-doc in linguistics at Stanford; Katja Herbers ("Manhattan," "The Leftovers"), as Linda, David Kaczinski's wife; and Brian F. O'Byrne ("Mildred Pierce," "Aquarius") as Frank McAlpine, the FBI's master profiler and Fitzgerald's professor who leads the Behavioral Analysis Unit. This series features both Bettany and Worthington's first major leading roles on U.S. television.

Nouri has enjoyed a long career spanning film, television and theatre. Nouri will next be seen in the film "Woman Walks Ahead" starring Jessica Chastain. Nouri's film work includes "Flashdance," "The Proposal," "Invincible," "The Terminal," "Last Holiday," starring Queen Latifah, Billy Crystal's "61*," "High Roller: The Stu Unger Story," "Lovely and Amazing," "Finding Forrester," starring opposite Sean Connery, "Easy Rider: The Ride Back," "Goodbye Columbus," "Davinci's Way," "The Imagemaker," "Gobots," "Chameleon," "Fatal Sky," "Total Exposure," "Black Ice," "Fortunes of War," "To The Limit," and "The Hidden," for which he won the Best Actor Award at the Avoriaz Film Festival. In the television world, Nouri was recently seen guest starring in "Blue Bloods," "Chicago PD," and "Heartbeat." He was in the NBC miniseries "The Slap," as well as the hit drama series "Damages" opposite Glenn Close, "NCIS," "Brothers and Sisters," and "The OC." He played the lead role of 'Lucky Luciano' in the highly-rated NBC series "The Gangster Chronicles" and received an Emmy nomination for "Search for Tomorrow."

Weber, a Washington state native, is an American actor, writer and director. His acting career began in the mid-90s at the Boston Comedy Club, where his meteoric rise from doorman to opener garnered major industry attention and landed him a role in Jan de Bont's classic 90's disaster film, "Twister." The success of the blockbuster propelled him into years of television, film and commercial work. Select credits include: "Coach Carter," "Secret Life of the American Teenager," his unforgettable role on "Sex and the City," and one of those silly, but iconic, cavemen in the original GEICO commercials.

Production starts in Atlanta on January 30, 2017.

About Discovery Channel

Discovery Channel is dedicated to creating the highest quality non-fiction content that informs and entertains its consumers about the world in all its wonder, diversity and amazement. The network, which is distributed to 100.8 million U.S. homes, can be seen in 224 countries and territories, offering a signature mix of compelling, high-end production values and vivid cinematography across genres including, science and technology, exploration, adventure, history and in-depth, behind-the-scenes glimpses at the people, places and organizations that shape and share our world. For more information, please visit www.discovery.com

About Discovery Communications

Discovery Communications (Nasdaq: DISCA, DISCB, DISCK) is the world's #1 pay-TV programmer reaching nearly 3 billion cumulative subscribers in more than 220 countries and territories. For 30 years Discovery has been dedicated to satisfying curiosity and entertaining viewers with high-quality content through its global television brands, led by Discovery Channel, TLC, Animal Planet, Investigation Discovery and Science, as well as U.S. joint venture network OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network. Discovery controls Eurosport, the leading pan-regional sports entertainment destination across Europe, Asia Pacific, the Middle East and Africa. Discovery also is a leading provider of educational products and services to schools, including an award-winning series of K-12 digital textbooks, through Discovery Education, and a digital leader with a diversified online portfolio, including Discovery Digital Networks. For more information, please visit www.discoverycommunications.com.

About Lionsgate

Lionsgate (NYSE: LGF.A, LGF.B) is a vertically integrated next generation global content leader with a diversified presence in motion picture production and distribution, television programming and syndication, premium pay television networks, home entertainment, global distribution and sales, interactive ventures and games and location-based entertainment. With the acquisition of Starz, Lionsgate adds to its portfolio of businesses the flagship STARZ premium pay network serving nearly 25 million subscribers and the STARZ ENCORE platform with over 31 million subscribers. The combined company will operate five over-the-top (OTT) streaming services and the STARZ app delivering content directly to consumers. One of the largest independent television businesses in the world, Lionsgate's slate of premium quality series encompasses nearly 90 shows on more than 40 different networks. These include the ground-breaking Orange is the New Black, the fan favorite Nashville, the syndication success The Wendy Williams Show, the hit drama The Royals, the acclaimed Casual, the breakout success Greenleaf and hit Starz series including Outlander, Black Sails, Survivor's Remorse and Power, the second highest-rated premium pay television series of 2016. www.lionsgate.comz