Death by Lightning
Promotional poster
Created by	Mike Makowsky
Based on	Destiny of the Republic byCandice Millard
Directed by	Matt Ross
Starring	Michael Shannon Matthew Macfadyen Betty Gilpin Shea Whigham Bradley Whitford Nick Offerman
Composer	Ramin Djawadi
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	4
Production
Executive producers	Matt Ross Mike Makowsky Bernadette Caulfield David Benioff D. B. Weiss
Running time	47–66 minutes
Production companies	BLB Slater Hall Pictures Pixie Skye
Original release
Network	Netflix
Release	November 6, 2025 (2025-11-06)

Death By Lightning is an Americanhistorical drama miniseries created byMike Makowsky and based on the 2011 bookDestiny of the Republic byCandice Millard. It starsMichael Shannon asUnited States PresidentJames A. Garfield andMatthew Macfadyen as his assassinCharles J. Guiteau. The four-episode series premiered on November 6, 2025, onNetflix. It received widespread acclaim from critics, with particular praise for the performances of Shannon and Macfadyen.

The series depicts the election and presidency ofJames A. Garfield, the 20thUnited States President, including his anti-corruption and pro-civil rights stances, as well as how his path crossed withCharles J. Guiteau, a deluded admirer, who ended upshooting him, leading to Garfield's death.

The series was announced in February 2024, withMichael Shannon cast to play Garfield, andMatthew Macfadyen to play Guiteau.^[1][2] Shannon was keen to play Garfield as he himself did not know anything about the man.^[3] Macfadyen compared his interpretation of Guiteau to the Pixar villainSyndrome.^[4]Matt Ross was set to direct all episodes of the series.^[1] Later that month,Nick Offerman andBetty Gilpin joined the cast, asChester A. Arthur andLucretia Garfield respectively.^[5][6] In May,Bradley Whitford andShea Whigham were added, withStephen McKinley Henderson,Paula Malcolmson andTuppence Middleton joining in recurring roles.^[7]Laura Marcus was added in July.^[8] In October, additional castings were announced, includingBarry Shabaka Henley (replacing McKinley Henderson in his role),Vondie Curtis-Hall andŽeljko Ivanek.^[9]

Filming began inBudapest on July 1, 2024,^[10][11] and wrapped in October of the same year.^[9] It was announced in October 2025 that composerRamin Djawadi would be scoring the series.^[12]

Death by Lightning premiered on November 6, 2025, onNetflix.^[13]

On thereview aggregator websiteRotten Tomatoes, 91% of 55 critics' reviews are positive. The website's critics consensus reads, "Handsomely mounted and electrified byMatthew Macfadyen's masterclass in slimy desperation,Death by Lightning concisely dramatizes a fork in history while wistfully hinting at what could've been."^[14] OnMetacritic, the series has a weighted average score of 81 out of 100 based on 29 critics, indicating "universal acclaim."^[15]

Shannon and Macfadyen's portrayals of Garfield and Guiteau were singled out for praise.^{[16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23]} Richard Roeper's review atRogerEbert.com gave the series 3.5 stars out of 4, praising its boldness: "remembers Garfield as a decent man...Guiteau as one in a long line of broken and twisted souls."^[24]

• Murder of a President;PBS documentaryAmerican Experience

• Death by Lightning atIMDb 

• 2020s American drama television miniseries
• 2025 American television series debuts
• American English-language television shows
• American historical television series
• Assassination of James A. Garfield
• Cultural depictions of Chester A. Arthur
• Cultural depictions of Frederick Douglass
• Cultural depictions of James A. Garfield
• Fiction set in 1881
• Netflix television dramas
• Television series about presidents of the United States
• Television series set in the 1880s
• Television shows based on biographies
• Television shows filmed in Budapest
• Television shows set in Washington, D.C.
• Works about assassinations in the United States

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use mdy dates from November 2025