''The Staircase'' is an American

biographical A biography, or simply bio, is a detailed description of a person's life. It involves more than just the basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death; it portrays a person's experience of these life events. Unlike a profile or c ...

crime drama Crime films, in the broadest sense, is a film genre inspired by and analogous to the crime fiction literary genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and its detection. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combin ...

television miniseries created by Antonio Campos, based on the 2004 true crime docuseries of the same name created by

Jean-Xavier de Lestrade Jean-Xavier de Lestrade (born 1 July 1963) is a French writer, director and producer of films and television series. Early life and education Lestrade was born in Mirande, Gers, in southwestern France. He studied law and journalism in Paris, an ...

. The series stars Colin Firth as Michael Peterson, a writer convicted of murdering his wife Kathleen Peterson (

Toni Collette Toni Collette Galafassi (born Toni Collett; 1 November 1972) is an Australian actress, producer, singer, and songwriter. Known for her work in television and independent films, she has received various accolades throughout her career, inclu ...

), who was found dead at the bottom of the staircase in their home. The series premiered on

HBO Max HBO Max is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in the United States on May 27, 2020, the service is built around the libraries of HBO, Warner Bros., Cartoon Netw ...

on May 5, 2022.

Premise

Michael Peterson, a crime novelist, is accused of killing his wife Kathleen after she is found dead at the bottom of a staircase in their home. As the investigation continues, the family is thrown into a tumultuous legal battle. Meanwhile, a French documentary team takes an interest in the story.

Cast and characters

Main

* Colin Firth as Michael Peterson, a novelist and political hopeful living in Durham. His finances and personal life become the focus of the investigation and documentary. *

as Kathleen Peterson, his second wife and Caitlin's mom. She was a high-powered

executive Executive ( exe., exec., execu.) may refer to: Role or title * Executive, a senior management role in an organization ** Chief executive officer (CEO), one of the highest-ranking corporate officers (executives) or administrators ** Executive dir ...

and well-liked by her family and community. *

Michael Stuhlbarg Michael Stewart Stuhlbarg ( ; born July 5, 1968) is an American actor. He is known as a character actor having portrayed a variety of roles in film, television and theatre. He has received several awards including two Screen Actors Guild Awards wi ...

as David Rudolf, Michael's lawyer *

Dane DeHaan Dane William DeHaan ( ; born February 6, 1986) is an American actor known for his roles as Andrew Detmer in ''Chronicle'' (2012), Lucien Carr in '' Kill Your Darlings'' (2013), Harry Osborn / Green Goblin in ''The Amazing Spider-Man 2'' (2014), ...

as Clayton Peterson, Michael Peterson's oldest son from his first marriage who has his own legal issues from his past *

Olivia DeJonge Olivia DeJonge (; born 30 April 1998) is an Australian actress, known for playing Tara Swift / Shaneen Quigg in ABC1's '' Hiding'', Becca in the film '' The Visit'' (2015), Elle in Netflix's '' The Society'' (2019), and Priscilla Presley in the ...

as Caitlin Atwater, Kathleen's daughter from her first marriage. She initially supports her stepfather. *

Patrick Schwarzenegger Patrick Arnold Shriver Schwarzenegger (born September 18, 1993) is an American model, actor, investor, and entrepreneur. He is the son of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver. Early life and family Schwarzenegger was born at Providence St ...

as Todd Peterson, Michael's youngest son from his first marriage *

Sophie Turner Sophie Belinda Jonas (née Turner; born 21 February 1996) is an English actress. Turner made her acting debut as Sansa Stark on the HBO epic fantasy television series ''Game of Thrones'' (2011–2019), for which she received a Primetime Emmy A ...

as Margaret Ratliff, Michael's daughter, whom he adopted after her biological parents' deaths * Odessa Young as Martha Ratliff, Michael's other adopted daughter * Rosemarie DeWitt as Candace Hunt Zamperini, Kathleen's sister *

Tim Guinee Timothy S. Guinee (born November 18, 1962) is an American stage, television, and feature-film actor. Primarily known for his roles as Tomin in the television series ''Stargate SG-1'' (1997–2007) and railroad entrepreneur Collis Huntington AMC ...

as Bill Peterson, Michael's brother *

Parker Posey Parker Christian Posey (born November 8, 1968) is an American actress and musician. Posey is the recipient of a Golden Globe Award nomination, a Satellite Award nomination and two Independent Spirit Award nominations. Posey made her film debu ...

as Freda Black, a Durham county prosecutor *

Juliette Binoche Juliette Binoche (; born 9 March 1964) is a French actress and dancer. She has appeared in more than sixty feature films and has been the recipient of numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, a Silver Bear, ...

as Sophie Brunet, the editor of the original documentary * Vincent Vermignon as

, the director of the original documentary

Recurring

Joel McKinnon Miller Joel McKinnon Miller (born February 21, 1960) is an American actor who is best known for portraying Don Embry on ''Big Love'' and Detective Norm Scully on ''Brooklyn Nine-Nine''. Life and career Joel McKinnon Miller was born in Rockford, Minne ...

as Larry Pollard, a lawyer who is neighbors and friends with the Petersons *

Maria Dizzia Maria Teresa Dizzia (born December 29, 1974) is an American actress. Dizzia was nominated for the 2010 Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play for her performance in ''In the Next Room (or The Vibrator Play)''. Early lif ...

as Lori Campbell, Kathleen and Candace's sister * Susan Pourfar as Dr Deborah Radisch *

Justice Leak Justice Adam Leak (born September 1, 1979) is an American film, television and stage actor best known for his portrayal of Harland Osbourne in the 2007 film ''The Great Debaters''. Early life Leak was born and raised in Montgomery, Alabama by ...

as Tom Maher * Robert Crayton as Ron Guerette *

Cullen Moss Cullen Moss (born July 8, 1975) is an American film, television and voice actor. He is best known for his roles on '' One Tree Hill'' and ''The Notebook''. Early life Moss is a native of Winston-Salem, North Carolina who graduated from Mount Ta ...

as Jim Hardin, another Durham County prosecutor on whom Michael had previously written attack columns * Cory Scott Allen as Art Holland * Morgan Henard as Dennis Rowe, a childhood neighbor and friend of Kathleen and Lori's, eventual hookup of Michael's * Jason Davis as Fred Atwater, Kathleen's first husband and father to Caitlin * Ryan Lewis as Bruce Campbell, Lori's husband * Hannah Pniewski as Becky, Clayton's wife * Kevin Sizemore as Mark Zamperini, Candace's husband *

Trini Alvarado Trinidad "Trini" Alvarado (born January 10, 1967) is an American actress best known for her performances as Margaret "Meg" March in the 1994 film adaptation of Louisa May Alcott's novel ''Little Women'' and Lucy Lynskey in the comedy/horror fi ...

as Patricia Sue Peterson, Michael's first wife and mother to Todd and Clayton * Daniela Lee as Devon * Teri Wyble as Sonya Pfeiffer * Frank Feys as Denis Poncet, the editor of the original documentary * Andre Martin as Yves, Jean-Xavier's boom operator * Jean-Luc McMurtry as Gaultier, Sophie's assistant editor *

Monika Gossmann Monika may refer to: People * Monika (given name) Films and video games * Monika (1938 film), ''Monika'' (1938 film), a German film * Monika (1974 film), ''Monika'' (1974 film), an Italian film Music * Monika (opera), ''Monika'' (opera), a 1937 ...

as Agnes

Episodes

Production

Development

The series is a passion project for Antonio Campos, who began developing a scripted adaptation of the

true crime True crime is a nonfiction literary, podcast, and film genre in which the author examines an actual crime and details the actions of real people associated with and affected by criminal events. The crimes most commonly include murder; about 40 pe ...

docuseries Television documentaries are televised media productions that screen documentaries. Television documentaries exist either as a television documentary series or as a television documentary film. *Television documentary series, sometimes called d ...

'' The Staircase'' in 2008. On November 21, 2019, it was announced that Annapurna Television had officially put the project into development and was shopping the project to premium networks and streaming services. Campos was attached to write the series, as well as executive produce alongside Harrison Ford. On September 22, 2020, during an interview about his new film '' The Devil All the Time'' with

Rian Johnson Rian Craig Johnson (born December 17, 1973) is an American filmmaker. He made his directorial debut with the neo-noir mystery film '' Brick'' (2005), which received positive reviews and grossed nearly $4 million on a $450,000 budget. Transitio ...

for ''Interview'' magazine, Campos revealed that

had landed the project for development. On March 31, 2021, it was announced that HBO Max had given the project a

limited series Limited series may refer to: *Limited series, individual storylines within an anthology series *Limited series, a particular run of collectables, usually individually numbered *Limited series (comics), a comics series with a predetermined number of ...

order consisting of 8 episodes, with Campos set as showrunner and director of 6 of the episodes and ''

American Crime Story ''American Crime Story'' is an American anthology true crime television series developed by Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski, who are also executive producers, alongside Brad Falchuk, Nina Jacobson, Ryan Murphy, and Brad Simpson. The ser ...

''s Maggie Cohn joining as writer, executive producer, and co-showrunner. In addition, Ford was no longer attached as executive producer. Upon the series order announcement, Campos said: On July 19, 2021, it was announced that Leigh Janiak is set to direct two episodes of the series.

Casting

Harrison Ford was initially set to star in the lead role of Michael Peterson before being replaced by Colin Firth in March 2021. The following month,

joined the cast in a lead role. Rosemarie DeWitt,

, and

were added to the main cast in May 2021, with

, Odessa Young,

, and

joining the next month. In July 2021,

and Vincent Vermignon joined the cast of the series. In August 2021,

was cast in a recurring role.

Filming

Principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as a ...

for the series began on June 7, 2021, in

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,7 ...

, and was scheduled to conclude in November 2021. The final day of filming in Atlanta was Monday, December 13, 2021. The actors on set that day were Odessa Young (Martha Peterson), Trini Alvarado (Patty Peterson), Morgan Henard (Dennis Rowe), Donny Boaz (Tyrone Lacour), Monika Gossmann (Agnes Schafer), and Bastian Gunther (German Father).

Release

The miniseries premiered on May 5, 2022, with the first 3 episodes on HBO Max. The miniseries was released on December 27, 2022, on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...

Reception

The series received positive reviews from critics, with praise towards Firth's performance. The

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

reported a 92% approval rating with an average rating of 7.80/10, based on 71 critic reviews. The website's critics consensus reads, "''The Staircase'' doesn't hold many surprises for those already intimate with the original documentary, but this dramatization brings a fresh perspective and texture to the mystery—along with a terrific performance by Colin Firth." Meanwhile,

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 80 out of 100 based on 29 critics, indicating "generally favourable reviews". Members of the original documentary team criticised the series, with creator

stating that he felt "very uncomfortable, because I feel that I’ve been betrayed." The original documentary team in particular criticised the series for misrepresenting the relationship between Sophie Brunet and Peterson, for suggesting that the team made editorial choices in order to portray Peterson in a more sympathetic way, and for falsely attributing work done by producer Allyson Luchak to Denis Poncet instead. David Rudolf also raised concerns about the series' factual accuracy, saying that there were "many things in the first five episodes, which I've seen that are inaccurate, misleading, and outright false." As well, Peterson criticised the series, saying that he hadn't been informed that the series was being made, and accused de Lestrade of selling out the story to HBO.

Awards and nominations

Notes

References

External links