The Looming Tower is an American drama television miniseries, based on Lawrence Wright's 2006 book of the same name, which premiered on Hulu on February 28, 2018. The 10-episode drama series was created and executive produced by Dan Futterman, Alex Gibney, and Wright. Futterman also acted as the series's showrunner and Gibney directed the first episode. The series stars an ensemble cast featuring Jeff Daniels, Tahar Rahim, Wrenn Schmidt, Bill Camp, Louis Cancelmi, Virginia Kull, Ella Rae Peck, Sullivan Jones, Michael Stuhlbarg, and Peter Sarsgaard.
Premise The Looming Tower traces the "rising threat of Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda in the late 1990s and how the rivalry between the FBI and CIA during that time may have inadvertently contributed to the 9/11 attacks. It follows members of the I-49 Squad in New York and Alec Station in Washington, D.C., the counter-terrorism divisions of the FBI and CIA, respectively, as they travel the world fighting for ownership of information while seemingly working toward the same goal – trying to prevent an imminent attack on U.S. soil."
Cast and characters Main Jeff Daniels as John O'Neill, the chief of the New York FBI's Counterterrorism Center known as "I-49". He is convinced that the United States has been targeted for attack by al-Qaeda but is faced with hostility from other federal agencies, particularly the CIA. Tahar Rahim as Ali Soufan, a Muslim Lebanese-American FBI agent on John O'Neill's I-49 counterterrorism squad who eventually becomes his protégé. Soufan is infuriated by the perversion of Islam by enemies of the United States and goes so far as to go undercover in terrorists' gathering spaces in order to hunt al-Qaeda and prevent attacks. Wrenn Schmidt as Diane Marsh, a CIA analyst who works under Martin Schmidt. Similar to Schmidt, she believes the CIA is uniquely positioned to combat terrorist attacks and therefore decides to conceal information from the FBI. Marsh is a composite character of at least three people within the CIA, including Alfreda Frances Bikowsky. Bill Camp as Robert Chesney, an FBI veteran in New York's counterterrorism unit. About to retire, he uses his interrogation skills to extract important intelligence from suspects in the struggle against terrorist threats. Chesney has been described as the most composited of all the main characters; Soufan commented that Chesney is a composite of "at least four people." Louis Cancelmi as Vince Stuart, an FBI agent embedded into CIA's Alec Station. His assignment is to ensure that the FBI receives all the same intelligence the CIA does. His presence at the CIA is met with severe distrust. The character is based on FBI agent Mark Rossini. Virginia Kull as Kathy Shaughnessy, an FBI agent in the I-49 counterterrorism squad who works closely with Floyd Bennet. Ella Rae Peck as Heather, a special education teacher, originally from Ohio, who begins to see Soufan. Their dates are constantly interrupted by his work for the FBI, and she finds the secretive and dangerous nature of his job a difficult obstacle to overcome in their relationship. Sullivan Jones as Floyd Bennet, an FBI agent in the I-49 counterterrorism squad who works closely with Kathy Shaughnessy. He is a former member of the New York State Police SWAT Team. Michael Stuhlbarg as Richard Clarke, the National Coordinator for Security, Infrastructure Protection, and Counterterrorism and the chief counterterrorism adviser on the United States National Security Council. Peter Sarsgaard as Martin Schmidt, the chief of "Alec Station", a section of the CIA Counterterrorism Center. Schmidt butts heads with O'Neill after deciding to withhold information from him, believing that the CIA is the only agency prepared to combat potential terrorist threats. The character is based on former CIA Officer Michael Scheuer.
Recurring
Jenny Paul as Maureen, a CIA analyst working in Alec Station. Erica Cho as Leigh, a CIA analyst working in Alec Station. Sharon Washington as Judith, a CIA analyst working in Alec Station. Katie Flahive as Amy, a CIA analyst working in Alec Station. Jamie Neumann as Toni-Ann Marino, an FBI agent in O'Neill's I-49 counterterrorism squad who is embedded into the CIA's Alec Station, alongside Vince Stuart. Tawfeek Barhom as Khalid al-Mihdhar, one of five hijackers of American Airlines Flight 77, which crashed into the Pentagon as part of the September 11 attacks. Samer Bisharat as Walid bin Attash, also known as Khallad, a Yemeni terrorist who helped in the preparation of the 1998 East Africa Embassy bombings and the USS Cole bombing, and acted as a bodyguard to Osama bin Laden. Annie Parisse as Liz, an English professor with whom O'Neill is having an affair in New York. Nasser Faris as Ayman al-Zawahiri, one of the co-founders of al-Qaeda. Michael Quinlan as General O'Keefe. Ken Arnold as General Stetson. Jordan Lage as Mr. Kearns, one of ten commissioners overseeing the 9/11 Commission in 2002. Kimberly S. Fairbanks as Ms. McCabe, one of ten commissioners overseeing the 9/11 Commission in 2002. July Namir as Hoda Hada, the wife of Khalid al-Mihdhar. Ibrahim Renno as Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the leader of al-Qaeda's propaganda operations and the principal architect of the 9/11 attacks. Nebras Jamali as Nawaf al-Hazmi, one of five hijackers of American Airlines Flight 77, which crashed into the Pentagon as part of the September 11 attacks. Craig Wroe as Leonard Bliss, the CIA chief of the Near East Division, and Schmidt and Marsh's superior. Jill Dalton as Beverly. Alec Baldwin as George Tenet, the CIA Director. Yul Vazquez as Jason Sanchez, the assistant director of the FBI in the New York office and O'Neill's superior. Youssef Berouain as Mohamad al-Owhali, an al-Qaeda member who took part in the 1998 United States embassy bombings. Katie Finneran as Sheri, a woman with whom O'Neill is having an affair in Washington, D.C. Mohamad Ashraf as Walla. Ayman Samman as Anas al-Liby, a computer specialist for al-Qaeda who takes part in the 1998 United States embassy bombings. Zaki Youssef as Abu Jandal, a Yemeni member of al-Qaeda in Afghanistan. Tasha Lawrence as Maria O'Neill, John's wife and the mother of his two daughters. Ashley Leyva as Willa O'Neill, John's daughter. Angelina Leyva as Celia O'Neill, John's daughter. Jennifer Ehle as Barbara Bodine, U.S. ambassador to Yemen. She comes to dislike O'Neill, reports him to his superiors at the FBI, and has him expelled from Yemen. Dhaffer L'Abidine as Mohamed Atta, an Egyptian hijacker and one of the ringleaders of the September 11 attacks. He served as the hijacker-pilot of American Airlines Flight 11 and crashed the plane into the North Tower of the World Trade Center as part of the coordinated attacks. Joe Corrigall as John Chihoyne, a CIA agent stationed in Yemen. Eisa Davis as Condoleezza Rice, U.S. National Security Advisor to President George W. Bush. Ali Suliman as General Qamish, a Yemeni general who aids O'Neill and Soufan's investigation into the USS Cole bombing in Yemen. Sami Karim as Omar al-Bayoumi, an agent of the Saudi government who befriends al-Hazmi and al-Mihdhar.
Guest
C. J. Wilson as John Miller, a reporter for ABC News who conducts an interview with Osama bin Laden in the Hindu Kush of Afghanistan. Vincent Ebrahim as Wadih el-Hage, an al-Qaeda member who acted as secretary for Osama bin Laden and who took part in the 1998 United States embassy bombings. Wendy Mae Brown as April Brightsky Ray, the wife of Wadih el-Hage. Eugene Wanangwa Khumbanyiwa as Trenton Okuru, a security guard at the American Embassy in Nairobi and witness as well as survivor to the Embassy bombing. Jennifer Dundas as Mary Jo White, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York. Barbara Rosenblat as Elaine Kaufman, the owner of the Manhattan restaurant Elaine's, where O'Neill frequently eats. Tony Curran as Barry James, an inspector in the Metropolitan Police Service at Scotland Yard in London, England. Osh Ghanimah as Abu Hamsa al-Masri. Nayef Rashed as Ahmed al-Hada, an al-Qaeda operative who acted as their "switchboard" host. Robert Vincent Smith as Cardinal James Hickey, an American Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church and the Archbishop of Washington, D.C. He performed John and Maria O'Neill's marriage ceremony and John goes to see him about getting it annulled. Nezar Alderazi as Jamal Ahmad Mohammad Al Badawi, a Yemeni who helps plan the attack on the USS Cole. Bijan Daneshmand as Farouq Osman. Donald Sage Mackay as Commander Kirk Lippold, the Commanding Officer of the USS Cole. Stewart Steinberg as Larry Silverstein, the founder of Silverstein Properties that has leased the World Trade Center from the Port Authority. He hires O'Neill as head of security at the World Trade Center following his retirement from the FBI.
Episodes
Production Development The project emanated from Ali Soufan and Lawrence Wright's realization that both of them were fielding offers from various studios and production companies regarding the rights to their books about the lead-up to the September 11 terrorist attacks. The pair met with filmmaker Alex Gibney, who had already adapted Wright's one-man show, My Trip to Al-Qaeda and book Going Clear for HBO. Wright said about the collaborations with Gibney, "He's a documentarian, and he understands the importance of truth. We've been in the trenches. I came to trust him, and that's what I wanted — someone I felt could handle and negotiate these really difficult moral questions." Following that partnership, the team began to interview potential showrunners. They soon landed on screenwriter Dan Futterman after one meeting, and then decided to work on their pitch for the series. After refining their pitch, they approached HBO, Netflix and Amazon with the project. As a courtesy, they also reached out to Hulu without really placing them into consideration due to the perception of the streaming service as merely a place to stream episodes of network television shows. However, during their meeting with Hulu they were offered a straight-to-series order, an abbreviated development process, a promise not to cave under pressure from the federal agencies portrayed in the series, and the largest financial commitment of any service or network they had previously met with. It was due to these terms and conditions that the producers ultimately decided to sign with the company.
During pre-production, producers spent months doing exhaustive homework. This involved interviewing the real-life counterparts of the characters they were bringing to life, including Ali Soufan and his wife; former National Security Council chief counterterrorism adviser Richard Clarke; former and current members of the FBI's I-49 squad; and former members of the CIA. Futterman has mentioned that in addition to adapting Wright's book, the series also drew from Soufan's book The Black Banners: The Inside Story of 9/11 and the War Against al-Qaeda and the 9/11 Commission Report.