The Incredible History Lesson That Informed WACO‘s Costume Design

Karyn Wagner has a gift for time travel. Her costume designs have populated the slave era south of Underground, death row during the Great Depression of The Green Mile, and a lush WWII romance in The Notebook. Her latest visit in history lands in 1990s Texas where a charismatic cult leader was building a large following in WACO. The six-part miniseries on the newly branded Paramount Network concludes tonight,

Manipulator or Martyr? New Waco Trailer Asks the Question

Waco reimagines a side of the Branch Davidian raid that hasn’t been seen before, from inside the Texas compound. In 1993, the world gazed from outside as the FBI and ATF engaged in a 51 day standoff with the religious cult led by David Koresh. Koresh was killed along with 75 of his followers, leaving the story of what occurred inside largely untold.

Taylor Kitsch plays Koresh, and in what we’ve seen thus far,

See Taylor Kitsch as David Koresh in First Waco Images

When it was initially announced that Friday Night Lights leading man Taylor Kitsch would play mentally disturbed Branch Davidian leader David Koresh, we weren’t so sure, but with the release of the first pictures of Kitsch in character, we totally see it. Kitsch dons Koresh’s iconic 1990s mullet and oversized frames to transform into the infamous cult leader in limited series Waco. It’s a convincing transformation from heatthrob to notorious fugitive.