The Stranger-Than-Fiction True Story Behind Netflix’s New Star-Studded Historical Miniseries
Netflix's Death by Lightning chronicles the assassination of U.S. President James Garfield, rooted in shocking real-life events. Long before "parasocial relationships" became a psychological topic, there was Charles Guiteau—a failed lawyer, aspiring preacher, and self-declared political influencer who believed he was responsible for Garfield’s rise to the presidency.
After the White House ignored his handwritten letters demanding an ambassadorship to Paris, Guiteau took his obsession to a terrifying extreme. In the summer of 1881, he confronted Garfield at a Washington, D.C. train station and shot him in the back, convinced he had just saved the Republican Party and perhaps the nation.
If that sounds like the premise of a compelling miniseries about obsession, ego, and delusion, Netflix’s Death by Lightning brings this bizarre episode of American history to life. The show transforms this strangest presidential assassination into a darkly comedic, intense character study.
Executive producers David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, known for Game of Thrones, joined forces with Mike Makowsky of Bad Education to explore how Guiteau’s desperate quest for recognition and a government post intersected with a political system already decaying from within.
"Netflix’s Death by Lightning resurrects this real-life fever dream of delusion and democracy gone off the rails."
The miniseries challenges viewers to reflect on the dangers of obsession and the complexities behind one of America’s most unusual political crimes.
Author’s summary: Netflix’s Death by Lightning dives into Charles Guiteau’s deadly obsession and its impact on a fragile political system, offering a darkly humorous yet gripping historical portrait.
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