Macfadyen (pictured left) comes from the popular HBO drama Succession, where he won two Emmys. He previously appeared in ITV's Quiz (UK), BBC/Amazon's Ripper Street, BBC's Spooks, Netflix/BBC's The Last Kingdom and Starz's The Pillars of the Earth.
Shannon (pictured right) recently played the role of George Jones on Showtime's George & Tammy. The actor made his breakthrough with his role as agent Nelson Van Alden in HBO's Boardwalk Empire. He also played roles in the then Spike TV series Waco and its sequel Waco: The Aftermath from Paramount+, Hulu's Nine Perfect Strangers and BBC/AMC's The Little Drummer Girl (2018).
Death by Lightning comes from Bad Education screenwriter Mike Makowsky, who created the series, and is directed by Matt Ross (Silicon Valley, Big Love). Game of Thrones duo David Benioff and D.B. Weiss are executive producers through their overall deal with Netflix. Their science fiction series 3 Body Problem can be seen on the streamer from Thursday, March 21.
Garfield was president in 1881 and was assassinated later that year, after previously serving nine terms as a Congressman. He was elected senator but declined when he became president, despite the fact that he had not sought the office.
He was shot by Guiteau, who felt he had played an important role in Garfield's election.
Makowsky, Benioff, Weiss, Bernie Caulfield and Ross are producing and Ross is directing all episodes.
