Documenting the trial of Michael Peterson, convicted of murdering his wife, “The Staircase” originally began as a French miniseries that was then expanded upon with a Netflix docuseries several years later – you can stream every single episode through Netflix – and it’s next getting a scripted adaptation for HBO Max. Deadline reports that Leigh Janiak, fresh off Netflix’s Fear Street trilogy, is on board to direct two episodes, out of a total eight episodes.
Deadline details, “The eight-episode series from Christine director Antonio Campos and American Crime Story writer Maggie Cohn explores the life of Michael Peterson (Colin Firth), his sprawling North Carolina family and the suspicious death of his wife, Kathleen (Toni Collette). Campos is directing six of the eight episodes.”
The docuseries is titled “The Staircase” because Peterson claims his wife Kathleen fell down the stairs in their home, though many believe he actually bludgeoned her to death.
“The Staircase has haunted me since I watched the brilliant documentary years ago. I couldn’t be more excited and honored to help Antonio and Maggie bring their vision to life as we show new sides to this complex, intense story” said Janiak.
The cast for the series also includes Rosemarie DeWitt, Juliette Binoche, Parker Posey, Odessa Young, Patrick Schwarzenegger, Dane DeHaan, Olivia DeJonge, Sophie Turner, Michael Stuhlbarg and Tim Guinee.