Miniseries chronicles life of second president

The long-awaited "John Adams" miniseries has a premiere date at HBO.

The seven-part miniseries will debut Sunday, March 16, a week after the series finale of "The Wire." Parts one and two will air back-to-back, with subsequent installments debuting on each of the next five Sundays.

Based on David McCullough's Pulitzer Prize-winning biography, the miniseries stars Paul Giamatti ("Sideways," "Cinderella Man") as the second president of the United States and Laura Linney ("The Savages," "The Squid and the Whale") as his wife, Abigail. It follows Adams' life for 50 years, from his leadership in the independence movement through the early days of the republic and his time as president.

"This miniseries will bring to life that crucial founding time for our country in a way nothing else ever has," McCullough says. "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."

"John Adams" also stars Stephen Dillane ("The Hours") as Thomas Jefferson, Tom Wilkinson ("Michael Clayton") as Benjamin Franklin, Danny Huston ("Children of Men") as Samuel Adams, David Morse ("House," "Disturbia") as George Washington, Sarah Polley ("Away From Her") as Nabby Adams and Rufus Sewell ("The Illusionist") as Alexander Hamilton.

Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman, executive producers of "Band of Brothers," perform the same duties on "John Adams." Kirk Ellis ("Into the West") wrote the teleplay, and Tom Hooper ("Elizabeth I," "Longford") directs.