Colin Firth and Toni Collette look at a staircase, probably Photo: HBO Max
We all remember the first time we saw The Staircase, the documentary miniseries about the 2004 trial of Michael Peterson, who was found guilty of the murder of his second wife, Kathleen. Though The Staircase has been running for 16 years, it’s a social experiment in consensus, one of the few times Americans have rallied around a similar opinion: This guy killed his wife.
Now that the incident has been investigated, heard and tried in court and on Netflix, Dateline, Forensic Files, Cold Case, Dateline (again) and My Favorite Murder, HBO has decided that we are retrying The Staircase in a starred way occupied eight-part miniseries. Created by Antonio Campos (Christine, The Devil All The Time), The Staircase now has a trailer you can watch from the safety of your PC.
Academy Award winner Colin Firth plays Michael Peterson, one of many murderers named Peterson. By taking on the role, Firth joins an acting line that rivals James Bond. Past Petersons include Treat Williams, who portrayed Michael in the 2007 Lifetime film The Staircase Murders; Dean Cain, who played Scott Peterson in The Perfect Husband: The Story of Laci Peterson; and Rob Lowe, who wore one hell of a mustache as Drew Peterson in the Lifetime classic Drew Peterson: Untouchable.
The Staircase has a cast that would also make Marvel envious. Oscar-nominated Toni Collette plays Kathleen and likely won’t have many scenes with her supporting cast, including Michael Stuhlbarg, Juliette Binoche, Dane DeHaan, Olivia DeJonge, Rosemarie DeWitt, Tim Guinee, Patrick Schwarzenegger, Sophie Turner, Vincent Vermignon, and Odessa Young Parker Posey.
The Staircase documentary follows the twisted logic of Michael Peterson, who offers elaborate alibis and excuses for his wife’s death and poses as too intelligent and capable to be a wife-killer. But sadly, like so many of these killers, Peterson is such a compelling documentary subject that it strains credibility without cracking under pressure. And that was before he started dating the documentary’s editor.
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The Staircase runs for eight episodes on HBO Max, with the first three airing on May 5.