'Death by Lightning': Netflix's Hit Garfield Assassination Show, With Mike Makowsky | Prestige TV

The Prestige TV Podcast

The Ringer

Tv & Film

4.2 • 1.8K Ratings

🗓️ 18 November 2025

⏱️ 38 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Jo is joined by screenwriter and producer Mike Makowsky to talk about his latest Netflix project, ‘Death by Lightning.’ They talk about “history spoilers,” choices made for the finale, the accuracy of the project, and much more! (00:00) Introduction (01:18) Choices for the series (06:36) Adapting the book (09:54) The accuracies versus inaccuracies of the series (18:29) The actors' portrayals of historical figures (31:46) The brain in the jar Email us! prestigetv@spotify.com or lickingthedonut@gmail.com Subscribe to the Ringer TV YouTube channel here for full episodes of The Prestige TV Podcast and so much more! Host: Joanna Robinson Guest: Mike Makowsky Producer: Ashleigh Smith Additional Production Support: Justin Sayles Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Oh, hello, welcome back to the Prestige TV podcast feed.
0:13.5	I'm Joyna Robinson.
0:14.2	We have very special sort of mini episode for you today.
0:17.8	We've got the showrunner, a creator of Netflix's Death by Lightning,
0:23.9	Mike McCowski is here to talk about this incredible Netflix show that has been a lot of people
0:29.5	have been talking about it, burning up the charts on Netflix. This is, if you haven't seen it,
0:33.0	this is a show about, it's a four-episode miniseries about the assassination of President James Garfield.
0:39.3	Michael Shannon plays Garfield.
0:41.1	Matthew McFadden plays Charles Gattow who assassinated him.
0:45.0	And it is really compelling watchable television.
0:50.1	Since this came out a little while ago, a couple weeks ago, we just sort of talked about the whole series.
0:56.2	So there are, if you consider history spoilers, there are spoilers. Spoilers for history.
1:02.3	We talked about a lot of choices, including some that are specifically happen in the finale.
1:06.8	So if you haven't seen it yet, I really urge you to go watch it.
1:09.6	It's incredible a show. You should really watch it. And then come back. But if you've't seen it yet, I really urge you to go watch it. It's incredible a show.
1:11.5	You should really watch it. And then come back. But if you've already seen it, let's go now to our
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1:35.9	From startups to scaleups, online, in person and on the go.
	...

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