The Stranger-Than-Fiction True Story Behind Netflix’s New Star-Studded Historical Miniseries
Netflix's Death by Lightning recounts the assassination of U.S. President James Garfield, rooted in astonishing real events. Long before the term “parasocial relationship” became common in therapy and celebrity discussions, there was Charles Guiteau — a failed lawyer, aspiring preacher, and self-proclaimed political influencer who believed he was responsible for putting Garfield in office.
When the White House ignored his handwritten letters demanding an ambassadorship to Paris, Guiteau’s obsession took a dark turn. In the summer of 1881, he confronted Garfield at a train station in Washington, D.C., and shot him in the back, convinced that he had just saved the Republican Party and perhaps 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 dramatic and bizarre story serves as a grim reminder of obsession, ego, and the consequences of untreated mental and physical illness. Netflix’s Death by Lightning transforms this strange chapter of American history into a darkly humorous, character-driven narrative about delusion and political decay.
Executive producers David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, known for Game of Thrones, have joined forces with Mike Makowsky of Bad Education to unravel how one man’s desperate need for validation and a government position intersected with a political system already crumbling from within.
“Netflix’s Death by Lightning resurrects this real-life fever dream of delusion and democracy gone off the rails.”
Author's summary: The miniseries explores Charles Guiteau’s deluded obsession and political decay, turning a bizarre presidential assassination into a darkly humorous character study.