9 Things Netflix’s ‘Death by Lightning’ Got Right & Wrong

Netflix’s Death by Lightning is a riveting four-episode limited series that dramatizes the real-life story of James A. Garfield (Michael Shannon), the 20th President of the United States, and his eventual assassination by Charles J. Guiteau (Matthew Macfadyen) through parallel stories.

From his unexpected rise to the presidency, his reform ambitions (especially civil-service reform), and his status as a “reluctant” leader, Garfield was assassinated only three months into his presidency by a conman who believed he was owed a position in his cabinet. During his rise to the presidency, he has to contend with a corrupt political machine led by Senator Roscoe Conkling (Shea Whigham), whose right-hand man, Chester Arthur (Nick Offerman) became his running mate.