Netflix rounded out a pretty impressive cast for its historical series Death by Lightning, and five more actors just joined the ensemble. Bradley Whitford, Shea Whigham, and Stephen McKinley Henderson will star in this series about the assassination of the American President James Garfield.
According to Netflix’s official logline, Death by Lightning “brings to life the epic and stranger-than-fiction true story of James Garfield, reluctant 20th president of the United States, and his greatest admirer Charles Guiteau – the man who would come to kill him.”
Michael Shannon (Boardwalk Empire) and Matthew Macfadyen (Succession) will lead the cast as James Garfield and Charles Guiteau. Betty Gilpin (GLOW) and Nick Offerman (Parks and Recreation) have previously joined the cast as Crete Garfield and Chester Arthur.
Bradley Whitford (The Handmaid’s Tale) is one of the latest additions to the cast as Secretary of State James Blaine, along with Shannon’s Boardwalk Empire co-star Shea Whigham as Senator Roscoe Conkling. Death by Lightning will also star Stephen McKinley Henderson (Dune), Paula Malcomson (Ray Donovan), and Tuppence Middleton (Downton Abbey).
Death by Lightning is based on the novel Destiny of the Republic by Candice Millard, and Mike Makowsky created it for Netflix and serves as one of its executive producers.
