This 4-part Netflix drama about an assassinated US president will be top of your watch list


Netflix will drop a new four-part series about one of the intriguing US presidents on November 6. Find out more about James Garfield, who only served for 6 months.


Michael Shannon as Garfield in Death by Lightning© Netflix
Rebecca LewisLos Angeles correspondent
August 22, 2025
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Keep November 6 in your calendars free because that's the day Netflix will drop a new four-part series about one of the intriguing US presidents.

Death By Lightning, a limited series starring Michael Shannon and Matthew Macfadyen, promises to bring to life the stranger-than-fiction but true story of the 20th President of the United States, James Garfield, who only served for six months before he died after being shot by his long-time admirer, Charles Guiteau.

Oscar nominee Michael will star as Garfield, a nine-term Congressman from Ohio, who was also a preacher and a lawyer.

He only became President after Republicans were unable to come to an agreement during the 1880 convention over whether John Sherman, Ulysses S. Grant and James G. Blaine should be nominated; Garfield won the nomination when a faction of the delegates placed his name on the ballot.

Guiteau was a lawyer with mental health issues

Pride & Prejudice's Mr Darcy, Matthew Macfadyen, will play Guiteau, a lawyer with mental health issues who believed he had played a role in Garfield's Presidential win.

He petitioned the government to give him a consulship in Europe in reward, but as they ignored his requests, he decided to murder Garfield.

© Netflix

Nick Offerman as Arthur

Nick Offerman will star Chester A. Arthur, the man who would replace Garfield in the oval office after his death.

© Netflix

Bradley Whitford as James Blaine

The series will also star Betty Gilpin as Garfield's wife Lucretia, Bradley Whitford as James Blaine and Shea Whigham as Roscoe Conkling, an opponent of Garfield's.

© Ben Blackall/Netflix

Still from House of Guinness

It's not the only drama Netflix has coming out this fall, as on September 25 House of Guinness, from Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight, will take audiences into the family politics of the Guinness dynasty, and how the death of Guinness patriarch, Sir Benjamin Guinness went on to impact the fate of his four children, Arthur, Edward, Anne, and Ben.

The cast is led by Anthony Boyle (Masters of the Air, Manhunt) in the role of Arthur, Louis Partridge (Disclaimer, Enola Holmes) as Edward, Emily Fairn (The Responder, Saturday Night) as Anne, Fionn O'Shea (Normal People, Dance First) as Benjamin, and James Norton (Happy Valley, Bob Marley: One Love) as Sean Rafferty, a family friend with ties to the Protestant elite family.

Still from The White House Effect

On October 31 they will release The White House Effect, a documentary using archival material to tell the dramatic origin story of the climate crisis in America, and how a political battle in George H.W. Bush's 1988-1992 administration changed the course of history.

In Waves and War, a November 3 documentary, will follow three Navy SEALs who are diagnosed with treatment-resistant, unrelenting psychological pain and find themselves at the cutting edge of a psychedelic therapy that they hope will bring healing.

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