‘High Value Target: The Hunt for Saddam’ Review: Joel Kinnaman Plays the CIA Analyst Who Interrogated Saddam Hussein in TNT’s Clumsy Miniseries
The Hollywood Reporter's review of TNT's new limited series "High Value Target: The Hunt for Saddam" finds the eight-episode drama a clumsy, overstretched adaptation that struggles to justify its length. The series, loosely inspired by CIA analyst John Nixon's memoir "Debriefing the President: The Interrogation of Saddam Hussein," stars Joel Kinnaman as Nixon and is significant chiefly as part of TNT's tentative return to original scripted programming.
The review praises Kinnaman's performance and the show's pointed underlying message, but criticises heavy fictionalisation that inflates Nixon's real role, turning him from the first American to interrogate Saddam Hussein after his December 2003 capture into a figure implausibly credited with single-handedly locating and capturing him. Reviewer Daniel Fienberg notes the confusing multiple "created by," "developed by" and "a series by" credits, and argues that showrunner Leslie Greif, despite a track record with historical miniseries such as "Hatfields & McCoys," has produced a series where invented and one-dimensional secondary characters obscure the true story.
In short
- TNT's Saddam Hussein miniseries reviewed as clumsy and overstretched at eight episodes.
- Joel Kinnaman plays CIA analyst John Nixon, praised despite weak script.
- Series exaggerates Nixon's real role in Saddam Hussein's 2003 capture.
Explained simply
Saddam Hussein ruled Iraq for more than two decades before a US-led invasion toppled his government in 2003. After months in hiding, he was captured by US forces near Tikrit that December and later questioned by American officials.
John Nixon was a CIA analyst who took part in questioning Hussein after his capture; he later wrote a memoir about the experience. The series draws loosely on that account, set against the broader US search for Hussein and the difficult task of understanding a former leader in custody.
The story matters because it concerns how intelligence work and the invasion of Iraq have been portrayed, and how much a dramatisation can change the role of real people. It also marks TNT’s tentative return to making original scripted programmes.
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