The true-crime phenomenon—documentaries, movies, documentaries, series, and everything in between—has obviously hit an absolute zenith in recent years. This inexorable truth would explain why HBO Max would bother rehashing the mysterious circumstances of the death of Kathleen Peterson with their new scripted series “The Staircase” from showrunners Antonio Campos and Maggie Cohen (“American Crime Story”)—there’s still so much meat on the bone.
The subject has already been covered in a French documentary series from Jean-Xavier de Lestrade. That series—trying to examine if husband, Michael Peterson, killed his wife or if it was simply a bizarre accident that just happened to look suspicious to multiple people, including investigators—captivated the world.
And a new Vanity Fair article has released a batch of first-look images (see below) for “The Staircase” that is led by veteran actors Colin Firth and Toni Collette as the couple in the true-crime series. With “The Staircase,” we’re dealing with real people and events as the show will explore multiple events surrounding Peterson’s death.
A primary difference between the doc series is obviously more of a dramatic telling of events with recognizable actors, not to mention, will have Collette as Peterson dying multiple times. The limited series operates in three different timelines: the days leading up to Kathleen’s death, the immediate aftermath and trial surrounding it, and the present day.
Other cast members in “The Staircase” include Rosemarie DeWitt as Kathleen’s grieving sister Candace, Parker Posey Southern-drawled prosecutor Freda, the Peterson children are played by Sophie Turner, Dane DeHaan, and Odessa Young, along with the owl-theory proponent Larry portrayed by Joel McKinnon Miller.
It’s certainly an interesting concept, although, I’m not sure how Kathleen’s family feels about this fevered obsession with the case. But it should make compelling television for those obsessed with mysteries and true-crime projects alike. No release date has been set for the miniseries, but HBO notes that it will premiere sometime in Spring 2022. At this point, given HBO has released most of their April line-up, we might be looking at May. Fingers crossed for more info soon, though these new images mean, a trailer and a release date are probably right around the corner.
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