The Staircase (American miniseries)

The Staircase is an American biographical crime drama television miniseries created by Antonio Campos, based on the 2004 true crime docuseries of the same name created by Jean-Xavier de Lestrade. The series stars Colin Firth as Michael Peterson, a writer convicted of murdering his wife Kathleen Peterson (Toni Collette), who was found dead at the bottom of the staircase in their home. The series premiered on HBO Max 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.

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.
 * Toni Collette as Kathleen Peterson, his second wife and Caitlin's mom. She was a high-powered executive and well-liked by her family and community.
 * Michael Stuhlbarg as David Rudolf, Michael's lawyer
 * Dane DeHaan as Clayton Peterson, Michael Peterson's oldest son from his first marriage who has his own legal issues from his past
 * Olivia DeJonge as Caitlin Atwater, Kathleen's daughter from her first marriage. She initially supports her stepfather.
 * Patrick Schwarzenegger as Todd Peterson, Michael's youngest son from his first marriage
 * Sophie Turner as Margaret Ratliff, Michael's adopted 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 as Bill Peterson, Michael's brother
 * Parker Posey as Freda Black, a Durham county prosecutor
 * Juliette Binoche as Sophie Brunet, the editor of the original documentary
 * Vincent Vermignon as Jean-Xavier de Lestrade, the director of the original documentary

Recurring

 * Joel McKinnon Miller as Larry Pollard, a lawyer who is neighbors and friends with the Petersons
 * Maria Dizzia as Lori Campbell, Kathleen and Candace's sister
 * Susan Pourfar as Dr Deborah Radisch
 * Justice Leak as Tom Maher
 * Robert Crayton as Ron Guerette
 * Cullen Moss 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 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 as Agnes

Development
The series is a passion project for Antonio Campos, who began developing a scripted adaptation of the true crime docuseries 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 for Interview magazine, Campos revealed that HBO Max had landed the project for development. On March 31, 2021, it was announced that HBO Max had given the project a limited series order consisting of 8 episodes, with Campos set as showrunner and director of 6 of the episodes and American Crime Story'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:

"This has been a project I have been working on in one way or another since 2008. It's been a long and winding road, but well worth the wait to be able to find partners like HBO Max, Annapurna, co-showrunner Maggie Cohn and the incredible Colin Firth to dramatize such a complex true-life story."

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, Toni Collette joined the cast in a lead role. Rosemarie DeWitt, Juliette Binoche, and Parker Posey were added to the main cast in May 2021,  with Sophie Turner, Odessa Young, Patrick Schwarzenegger, Dane DeHaan, Olivia DeJonge, and Michael Stuhlbarg joining the next month. In July 2021, Tim Guinee and Vincent Vermignon joined the cast of the series. In August 2021, Justice Leak was cast in a recurring role.

Filming
Principal photography for the series began on June 7, 2021, in Atlanta, Georgia, 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.

Reception
The series received positive reviews from critics, with praise towards Firth's performance. The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes 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, 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 Jean-Xavier de Lestrade 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.