HBO to air Adams mini-series next month

NEW YORK, Feb. 18 (UPI) -- HBO is planning to air a star-studded, seven-part original mini-series about John Adams, the second U.S. president.

With Paul Giamatti playing the title role and Laura Linney portraying his wife Abigail, the historical drama is set to debut March 16, a week after the series ender of the acclaimed HBO drama "The Wire."

The first two installments are scheduled to air back-to-back, with subsequent episodes running each of the next five Sundays, Zap2it.com reported.

The mini-series is based on David McCullough's popular biography and is executive produced by Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman, who previously collaborated on "Band of Brothers."

Stephen Dillane, Tom Wilkinson, Danny Huston, David Morse, Sarah Polley and Rufus Sewell all co-star in "John Adams."

"This miniseries will bring to life that crucial founding time for our country in a way nothing else ever has," Zap2it.com quotes McCullough as saying. "It isn't a lesson. It's a powerful human drama -- one of the most important in all history. The audience will feel the human reality of what happened and all that those caught up in the struggle went through."