Gil Birmingham Notes What Separates Under The Banner Of Heaven From Other Crime Thrillers He's Done

"Under the Banner of Heaven" is the creation of Oscar-winning screenwriter Dustin Lance Black ("Milk"), who based the limited series on author Jon Krakauer's best-selling 2003 true crime novel, called, "Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith." And while Birmingham has appeared in a variety of genres including the supernatural ("The Twilight Saga"), comedy ("The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt"), political drama ("House of Cards"), and Western drama ("Yellowstone"), the actor has also made indelible marks in several crime thrillers. 

But after appearing in such series in the genre including "Animal Kingdom" — as well as the films, "Wind River" and "Hell or High Water" — Birmingham said he is looking for material that not only rises to the same level of greatness but provides a story that sets it apart from anything he's done in the genre before.

"[Under the Banner of Heaven] intrigued me because I've come, personally, from a background, on one side of my family, a religious family. On the other side of it [was] my father being in law enforcement," Birmingham told Looper. "I've always been intrigued by the notion of life philosophy, spirituality. This was particularly intense and a breakdown of what these belief systems can do and how they evolve, and how they affect the lives of a community — sometimes positive — [but] in this particular case, in a negative way. [This was about] the mindset of what's going on that a human being can take a division in a road like that and commit a heinous crime like they did."

Also starring Sam Worthington, Wyatt Russell, Adelaide Clemens, Billy Howle and Rory Culkin, "Under the Banner of Heaven" is streaming exclusively on Hulu. New episodes of the limited series premiere every Thursday through June 2.