The Stranger-Than-Fiction True Story Behind Netflix’s New Star-Studded Historical Miniseries
Netflix's Death by Lightning dramatizes the shocking true events surrounding the assassination of U.S. President James Garfield. Before the concept of a “parasocial relationship” entered popular discourse, Charles Guiteau was a failed lawyer and self-proclaimed political influencer who believed he was responsible for Garfield’s presidency.
When the White House ignored his handwritten letters demanding an ambassadorship to Paris, Guiteau’s obsession escalated dramatically. In the summer of 1881, at a train station in Washington, D.C., he shot President Garfield in the back, convinced he had saved the Republican Party—perhaps even the nation.
“He cornered Garfield in a Washington, D.C. train station and shot him in the back, convinced he’d just saved the Republican Party… maybe even the nation.”
This extraordinary story resembles the plot of a compelling prestige miniseries, delving into obsession, ego, and a possibly untreated STD. Death by Lightning brings to life this feverish tale of delusion and a democracy unraveling, transforming America’s strangest presidential assassination into a darkly humorous character study.
Executive producers David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, known for Game of Thrones, have joined forces with Mike Makowsky, creator of Bad Education, to examine how one man's desperate craving for recognition intersected with a politically corrupt system.
“Netflix’s Death by Lightning resurrects this real-life fever dream of delusion and democracy gone off the rails, turning the country’s strangest presidential assassination into a bizarre, darkly funny character study.”
Author’s summary: This miniseries reveals the chilling intersection of obsession and politics through the bizarre true story of Charles Guiteau and President Garfield’s assassination.