Variety has brought word that Universal Content Productions’ upcoming adaptation of the Wondery podcast Dr. Death has found its three stars in the form of Fifty Shades‘ Jamie Dornan, Mr. Robot‘s Christian Slater and Mission: Impossible – Fallout‘s Alec Baldwin.
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Dr. Death is based on the terrifying true story of Dr. Christopher Duntsch, a rising star in the Dallas medical community. Young, charismatic and ostensibly brilliant, Dr. Duntsch was building a flourishing neurosurgery practice when everything suddenly changed. Patients entered his operating room for complex but routine spinal surgeries and left permanently maimed or dead. As victims piled up, two fellow surgeons and a young Assistant District Attorney set out to stop him. Dr. Death explores the twisted mind of a sociopath and the gross negligence of the system designed to protect the most defenseless among us.
Dornan, who was most recently seen in the well-received journalist war drama A Private War and the period action flop Robin Hood, will portray Duntsch in the series. Baldwin is set to star as neurosurgeon Robert Henderson, who is described as “quiet, deliberative and methodical, Robert believes wholeheartedly both in the system in which he rose through the ranks and that anything worth doing shouldn’t be rushed. It should be gotten right.”
Slater will portray vascular surgeon Randall Kirby, who is described as” brash, impulsive and more than willing to burn that system to the ground in the name of justice. Together, they form a duo who will constantly be at odds in terms of their personalities and their methods, but on the exact same page as it relates to their endgame.”
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Patrick Macmanus, Syfy’s Happy! showrunner who is also developing Slaughterhouse-Five for Epix is set to pen the adaptation and will also executive produce as part of his overall deal with UCP. Todd Black, Jason Blumenthal, and Steve Tisch will executive produce via Escape Artists alongside Hernan Lopez and Marshall Lewy of Wondery Podcasts. UCP is currently shopping the series around to networks and streaming services.
(Photo Credit: Backgrid Images)
