Netflix Announces Death by Lightning, Garfield Drama, Nov 6, 2025

Netflix has announced that Death by Lightning, a four-episode limited series about the assassination of James A. Garfield, will premiere on November 6, 2025. The drama stars Michael Shannon as Garfield and Matthew Macfadyen as Charles Guiteau, and is based on Candice Millard’s nonfiction book Destiny of the Republic. The project is positioned as a high-profile, historical-psychological drama produced for streaming, with a notable lineup of executive producers and a coordinated creative team.

The series follows Garfield’s unlikely path to the presidency and his reform agenda, set against the chaotic and sometimes bizarre events surrounding his 1881 assassination. Guiteau, a disaffected claimant to influence in Garfield’s victory, shoots Garfield at the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad Station, an act that triggers a series of medical missteps and a prolonged struggle that ends with Garfield’s death weeks later. The limited format tightens the focus on the personal and political dynamics of the era, offering a dramatized retelling of a case that has long fascinated historians for its blend of political idealism, medical limitations of the time, and legal drama.