Dr. Death is an American true crime drama anthology television series created by Patrick Macmanus, based on the podcast of the same name. It premiered on Peacock on July 15, 2021. In July 2022, the series was renewed for a second season that premiered on December 21, 2023.
Contents
Premise
Season 1 dramatizes the story of Christopher Duntsch, an American neurosurgeon convicted after permanently mutilating his patients, killing two of them.
Season 2 dramatizes the story of Swiss surgeon and medical researcher Paolo Macchiarini, who was convicted after experimenting on his patients.
Cast
Season 1
Joshua Jackson as Christopher Duntsch
Grace Gummer as Kim Morgan
Christian Slater as Randall Kirby
Alec Baldwin as Robert Henderson
AnnaSophia Robb as Michelle Shughart
Fred Lehne as Don Duntsch
Hubert Point-Du Jour as Josh Baker
Maryann Plunkett as Madeline Beyer
Grainger Hines as Earl Burke
Kelsey Grammer as Dr. Geoffrey Skadden
Dominic Burgess as Jerry Summers
Molly Griggs as Wendy Young
Laila Robins as Amy Piel
Dashiell Eaves as Stan Novak
Jennifer Kim as Stephanie Wu
Kelly Kirklyn as Dorothy Burke
Marceline Hugot as Rose Keller
Carrie Preston as Robbie McClung
Season 2
Édgar Ramírez as Paolo Macchiarini
Mandy Moore as Benita Alexander
Ashley Madekwe as Dr. Ana Lasbrey
Gustaf Hammarsten as Dr. Anders Svensson
Luke Kirby as Dr. Nathan Gamelli
Alisha Erözer as Yeşim Çetir
Judy Reyes as Kim Verdi
Annika Boras as Marja
Rita Volk as Yulia Tuulik
Greg Hildreth as Luke
Celestina Harris as Lizzi
Jack Davenport as Nils Headley
Femi Olagoke as Andemariam Beyene
Episodes
Production
Development
On October 3, 2018, NBCUniversal announced that Patrick Macmanus would adapt the Dr. Death podcast into a series and produce with Todd Black, Jason Blumenthal and Steve Tisch executive produce via Escape Artists, as well as Hernan Lopez and Marshall Lewy. On September 17, 2019, NBCUniversal announced that the series would be distributed on its streaming service Peacock. In January 2020, it was announced Stephen Frears would direct the first two episodes. In September 2020, Frears was replaced by Maggie Kiley. On July 14, 2022, Peacock renewed the series for a second season with Ashley Michel Hoban promoted from a producer to an executive producer and new showrunner. The second season will focus on Paolo Macchiarini. On October 18, 2022, it was announced that Jennifer Morrison is set to direct episodes 1–4 and Laura Belsey is set to direct episodes 5–8 of the second season.
Casting
On August 9, 2019, Jamie Dornan, Alec Baldwin, and Christian Slater were cast as Dr. Christopher Duntsch, Robert Henderson, and Randall Kirby, respectively. In March 2020, Grace Gummer, Molly Griggs, AnnaSophia Robb and Chris Sullivan joined the cast of the series. On October 12, 2020, Joshua Jackson and Dominic Burgess joined the cast of the series, replacing Dornan and Sullivan respectively. Later in the same month, Hubert Point-Du Jour and Maryann Plunkett were cast in undisclosed capacities and character name roles. On February 12, 2021, Carrie Preston joined the cast. In November 2022, Édgar Ramírez was cast as Paolo Macchiarini and Mandy Moore was cast as Benita Alexander for the second season. On January 23, 2023, Rita Volk, Judy Reyes, Jack Davenport, Annika Boras, and Sandra Andreis joined the cast in recurring capacities for the second season.
Release
On May 17, 2021, alongside the release of an official trailer, it was announced that the series was scheduled to premiere in the summer of 2021. The first season premiered on July 15, 2021, with an eight-episode release. The second season premiered on December 21, 2023, with an eight-episode release.
In Canada, the show debuted on Showcase on September 12, 2021.
The series had its linear premiere on the USA Network on October 5, 2022.
Reception
The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 93% approval rating for the series' first season with an average score of 7.5/10 based on 29 critic reviews. The website's critics consensus reads, "Though it keeps viewers in the waiting room a little too long, Dr. Death remains a horrifying tale of medical malpractice centered around Joshua Jackson's sufficiently unsettling performance." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the first season a score of 75 out of 100 based on 12 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".
Kristen Baldwin of Entertainment Weekly gave the series' first season an A− and wrote a review saying, "The what and the how are harrowing enough. Dr. Death succeeds by focusing on the people who fought for years to make sure Christopher Duntsch could do no more harm."
The second season has an 80% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 10 critic reviews, with an average rating of 7/10. The website's critics consensus states, "Entangling Édgar Ramírez and Mandy Moore in a bad romance with skin-crawling results, Dr. Death's second season cuts with a mean scalpel." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the second season a score of 67 out of 100 based on 6 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".
