NBC Universal’s streaming service Peacock just dropped the first trailer for Dr. Death, which stars Joshua Jackson in a series inspired by a real-life former Texas surgeon who left 33 patients maimed or dead. In the trailer, Jackson plays Dr. Christopher Duntsch, who does routine spinal surgeries and is based on the doctor in the real-world events told in the first season of the Laura Beil’s Wondery podcast of the same name.
The shiny exterior of Duntsch’s position as a surgeon starts to crack when others start noticing discrepancies with his surgeries. He seems to be making mistakes in a system ill-equipped to stop him until two doctors, neurosurgeon Robert Henderson (Alec Baldwin) and vascular surgeon Randall Kirby (Christian Slater), grow suspicious.
As the trailer progresses, we see Henderson and Kirby putting the pieces together and trying to stop Duntsch in whatever way they can. They think he’s a danger to his patients and as the body count rises, they find themselves put in an impossible position where they deliberate how far they’re willing to go to stop this sinister doctor.
But despite what Henderson and Kirby do or say, Duntsch isn’t going anywhere. And he makes it clear in the trailer that if he can’t practice in Texas, there’s nothing stopping him from practicing medicine somewhere else, a truly horrifying thought for the two doctors out to stop him—not to mention the rest of us.
Dr. Death also stars AnnaSophia Robb, Carrie Preston, Dominic Burgess, Fredric Lehne, and Grace Gummer. The series features an all-female directing team, including actress Jennifer Morrison, best known for a starring role on Once Upon a Time. She is joined by Maggie Kiley and So Yong Kim.
The real-life Dr. Duntsch spent nearly two years practicing as a surgeon in Texas, where he was accused of intentionally harming 33 of his patients. He was indicted in 2015 on aggravated assault charges against five of his patients and was the first doctor to be convicted for aggravated assault to the care provided in his operating room. He was ultimately convicted in 2017 and received a life sentence.
Dr. Death is set to premiere this summer on Peacock.
(image: Peacock)
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