Executive producers David Benioff and D.B. Weiss are turning their attention to a different type of political power play.
The Emmy-winning duo is joining forces with creator Mike Makowsky (Bad Education) and director Matt Ross (28 Hotel Rooms, Captain Fantastic, Gaslit) on Death by Lightning. Based on Candice Millard’s 2011 nonfiction book Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President, the limited series chronicles the extraordinary life and death of 20th US president James Garfield — and you can stream it now on Netflix.
“It’s been the thrill of a lifetime seeing this crack team come together to bring James Garfield and his cohort back from the annals of long-forgotten history,” Makowsky tells Tudum. “Six years into working on this project, it’s a story I still can’t believe is true — in all its wild, tragic glory — and it somehow feels even more relevant to our world today than ever before. I can’t wait for us to be able to finally share it.”
While you wait for the series to arrive, here’s everything you need to know about this retelling of a remarkable chapter in American history, including the debut of first-look photos of Michael Shannon, Matthew Macfadyen, Betty Gilpin, Nick Offerman, and Shea Whigham in their iconic roles. The images offer an arresting glimpse of men and women on the brink of a changing world, as the country hurtled toward a modern new century, but still grappled with countless vestiges of its complicated past.
Matthew Macfadyen as Charles Guiteau in ‘Death by Lightning.’
Death by Lightning is a limited drama series that’s based on the epic and stranger-than-fiction true story of James Garfield (Shannon), reluctant 20th president of the United States, and Charles Guiteau (Macfadyen) — a man who was not only Garfield’s greatest admirer but also his assassin.
While the setting of the series might be nearly 150 years in the past, Death by Lightning feels incredibly relevant, says Makowsky. “The theme of corruption in politics and our bureaucracy feels particularly evergreen these days,” he tells Tudum. “The idea of civil service reform and waging a battle to clean up the grift in our government — this is something that Garfield very much stood on the front lines of in his time. In 1881, it feels like America is sort of standing at a crossroads between the past and what the future of this country is going to look like, and it’s up to [people like Garfield] to really define how America, 100 years after its inception, is going to look and what kind of society they’re going to be.”
The title of the limited series references one of President Garfield’s quotes: “Assassination can be no more guarded against than death by lightning. And it is best not to worry too much about either one.”
Nick Offerman as Chester A. Arthur in ‘Death by Lightning.’
Michael Shannon as James Garfield, Betty Gilpin as Crete Garfield in ‘Death by Lightning.’
The cast of Death by Lightning includes:
Yes, Death by Lightning is based on Candice Millard’s 2011 nonfiction book Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President.
“Candice really honed in on this parallel structure, where she was constantly weighing the president, this great man, James Garfield, against the man who would come to kill him, Guiteau,” says Makowsky.
Shea Whigham as Roscoe Conkling in ‘Death by Lightning.’
Makowsky served as the showrunner of the series and wrote all the episodes. He was inspired to write it after picking up Millard’s book and then, he says, “reading it in one sitting, because it was one of the most insane true stories I had ever heard.”
“I found it unspeakably tragic and moving,” he says, “but also weirdly funny in a very dark way. It’s a tone that I tend to chase in the work that I take on, but there is a very deeply ingrained situational absurdity to roughly all of the proceedings that I was just so stunned by. As soon as I finished the book, I knew that I needed to adapt it and that in its best incarnation, it could speak to people in ways that other period shows might not.”
Death by Lightning is executive produced under Benioff and Weiss’ deal with Netflix, alongside Bernie Caulfield (3 Body Problem, Game of Thrones, Big Love); Ross directed all episodes.
Betty Gilpin as Crete Garfield in ‘Death by Lightning.’
Yes! See Shannon as President Garfield; Gilpin as first lady Crete Garfield; Macfadyen as Guiteau; Offerman as Vice President Arthur; and Wigham as Sen. Conkling in the photos throughout this article.
All four episodes of Death by Lightning are available to stream now.
Matthew Macfadyen as Charles Guiteau in ‘Death by Lightning.’
