How ‘Death by Lightning’ Made James Garfield’s Assassination Feel “Shakespearean”

Mike Makowsky ( Bad Education ) was not looking for his next television series when he wandered into the Barnes & Noble at The Grove in Los Angeles — he just wanted a few books at reasonable prices. Rooting around in the bargain bin, the Emmy-nominated Death by Lightning creator found two books that sparked his interest. But as this was, again, the bargain bin, the deal was buy two, get one free. Makowsky fancies himself a bit of a historical nonfiction fan, so he added Candice Millard’s Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President to his basket. And why not? If it sucked, it was the free one anyway. Instead, Makowsky read Millard’s very serious book about the assassination of President James A. Garfield in one sitting. Related Stories Music Madonna, Taylor Swift Lead 2026 VMA Nominations TV 'Beef' Isn't 'Veep.' Its Emmy-Nominated Editor Explains Why That Matters

“I was blown away by it, and I was laughing a lot, even though the book is not written with explicit levity or mirth,” Makowsky tells The Hollywood Reporter .

“What Candice did really well was she found that parallel structure between the president and the assassin, and she was constantly weighing the two men in contrast with one another,” he continues. “I felt like that journey of seeing these two sides of the American experiment and the ways in which they kind of contradict but also eerily complement each other, like why one man succeeds, falls upward to the presidency ostensibly against his will, while the other desperately courts greatness and just fails at every conceivable turn — just bangs his head against the wall over and over again until he essentially loses his mind.”

That would be Charles Guiteau, played in Death by Lightning either perfectly by Matthew Macfadyen ( Succession ) or far too charmingly, depending on which Reddit thread you read. (Count me in the “masterfully” camp, though the only acting Emmy nomination went to Nick Offerman, who well deserves it for his boozy, brutish portrayal of Garfield’s vice president and successor in the big office, Chester A. Arthur.)

“It felt Shakespearean,” Makowsky adds. “I couldn’t believe that this story was still on the table, that no one ever tried to adapt it before.”

Makowsky was the unlikely choice — his career plans never included adapting such a story. Had he known how difficult it would be turning Destiny of the Republic into Death by Lightning , those of us who didn’t pay attention in history class may have never known the story that led up to Garfield getting capped in the back by a total whack job who fancied himself and the short-lived POTUS friends.

“We got the impossible show made,” Makowsky says of his own origin story.

How did Makowsky convince Netflix to make a miniseries about the 1881 assassination of a guy who served all of 200 days in the White House? He didn’t — at least, not alone.

After reading Makowsky’s pilot script — Death by Lightning was originally going to be a six-episode series, but he settled on four — Game of Thrones creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss boarded as producers.