New series from 'Game of Thrones' creators hits Netflix and tells the true story of the man who unwittingly became US president

Netflix recently released the new series Death by Lightning, a historical drama based on real facts, under the signature of Mike Makowsky and produced by David Benioff and DB Weiss, known for Game of Thrones. The new series follows the events leading up to the abrupt end of US President James A. Garfield's term, and the reviews seem to live up to the story.

“Hollywood screenwriters use the phrase 'stranger than fiction' too often, but Lightning is one of those rare shows that reveals the absurd and strange truth,” writes USA Today about the true story of how Garfield, the 20th president of the United States, came to power and how his reformist agenda was violently halted after just a few months in 1881.

The real events of Death by Lightning, translated by Netflix into Romanian as “Death by lightning”, are based on the 2011 book Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President (The Fate of the Republic: A Story of Madness, Medicine, and the Assassination of a President) by American author and journalist Candice Millard. At the time of publication, the book was very well received and eventually became a national bestseller in the United States. It also won the 2012 Edgar Award for Best Forensic Nonfiction Book.

Netflix has adapted the book into a 4-episode miniseries in which the role of President Garfield is played by a straight and cutting Michael Shannon, while the other main role, that of delusional political aspirant Charles Guiteau, is played by Matthew Macfadyen – known for his role as Tom Wambsgans in the acclaimed HBO series Succession.

The cast includes household names in American television, such as Nick Offerman, Shea Whigham, Betty Gilpin and Bradley Whitford. Offerman, famous for playing the role of Ron Swanson on Parks and Rec for several seasons, is Chester A. Arthur, a Republican political combine who is chosen as Garfield's running mate.

Similar to the book on which it is based, the Netflix series has been generally well-received, with an approval rating from film critics of 88% on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, while on Metacritic, which calculates a weighted average, it has a score of 81/100.

The new Netflix series presents one of the most unusual moments in US history

Slate magazine notes that the series portrays Garfield as a sort of Cincinnatus of the American Midwest, a reference to the Roman general who abdicated as dictator as soon as the state of emergency ended and retired to his farm. Over a millennium and a half later, American admirers of the Roman general named a city in Garfield's home state (Ohio) after him: Cincinnati.

Despite his wife's reservations, Garfield is drawn to the 1880 Republican National Convention to nominate another politician from his state, Senator John Sherman, for president. As it is today, American parties nominated their presidential candidate following an internal election, although the rules have seen some changes over the years.

The Republican convention at the time was deeply divided between two factions that loathed each other. On one side were the so-called “stalwarts,” so named for their support of the “bounty” system that awarded well-paid government positions as a reward for party loyalty. On the other side was the reformist faction, which included Sherman and Garfield, who wanted to reform the civil service and make appointments based on merit.

Endorsing Sherman, a commander during the American Civil War, Garfield gave a fiery speech about the need for the Republican Party to return to the principles of Lincoln, the president who went to war against the South to achieve the abolition of slavery.

Ballot after ballot, the convention was deadlocked, with none of the proposed candidates receiving enough votes to secure the nomination. On the 28th vote, a single voice is heard voting for Garfield. He quickly tells his nominator that he does not want his support. However, more and more delegates go to his side, and on the 38th ballot he is nominated, to his deep embarrassment, thanks to the maneuvers of Republican Senator James G. Blaine.

How real is the story presented in the Netflix series?

Although the producers of the 4-episode miniseries took some creative liberties in dramatizing the events, its central premise — that Garfield didn't want the presidency — rings true, according to Slate and other US publications that wrote about the subject after its release. Death by Lightning on Netflix on November 6.

According to the accounts of the time, when he learned from a friend that it was intended to introduce him as a possible presidential candidate, he exclaimed: “God… I know, I know! And it's going to destroy me!”. A year before the convention, he had noted in his diary that “presidential fever” is an “evil” that destroys the one who possesses it.

In fact, Garfield refused to actively campaign for the presidential election, limiting himself to talking from the porch of his Ohio farm to visiting voters.

Slate also points out that Garfield wasn't politically ignorant or naïve. During the Civil War he had become America's youngest brigadier general, and a brave action through enemy lines earned him a promotion to major general.

He was elected to the United States Congress from the state of Ohio without campaigning, even being persuaded by President Lincoln to resign from the army and run as a Republican. He was reelected for 18 years and became the Republican minority leader in the House of Representatives during the presidency of Rutherford B. Hayes (1887-1881).

He undoubtedly had political ambitions, just not presidential ambitions.

Death by Lightning marks David Benioff and DB Weiss' second series for Netflix, following the sci-fi drama The 3-body problemreleased last year. The press specialized in the film industry wrote about sources as early as April 2019, a month before the broadcast of the last episode of game of thrones on HBO, that Benioff and Weiss are set to leave for Netflix in a “handover” for which they were reportedly offered a whopping $200 million to sign on.