Colin Firth returns to screens to play the lead in upcoming HBO Max Original The Staircase as fans wonder is it a true story and where is it filmed?

The eight-episode series created by Antonio Campos (The Devil All the Time) is set to hit screens on Thursday May 5th with three episodes screened back to back followed by one episode to be aired each week until June 9th.

Speaking about the new show, Antonio 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…”

But as with any TV preview there are spoilers, but here’s all you need to know about the show…

Is The Staircase a true story?

Yes The Staircase on HBO Max is based on a true story as it explores the life of crime novelist Michael Peterson (played by Colin Firth), his his sprawling North Carolina family, and the suspicious death of his wife, Kathleen Peterson (Toni Collette). The TV drama miniseries focuses on the real-life 2003 murder trial which saw Michael convicted of murdering his wife in Durham, North Carolina, after she was found dead at the bottom of the staircase of their family home in 2001. But a retrial resulted in Michael’s sentence being reduced to one of voluntary manslaughter and saw him released in 2017.

The upcoming docu-series takes inspiration from a French documentary series, which was later expanded by Netflix, of the same name, and directed by Jean-Xavier de Lestrade.

The case has been described as “one of the most notorious and longest-running criminal cases in (research) Triangle history.”

Now aged 77, Michael claimed that his spouse died after falling down the stairs at their home in North Carolina, although police suspected that he had killed her and covered up his evidence.

Michael Peterson listens as his defense attorney David Rudolph makes his opening statements in Peterson’s request for a new trial Tuesday December 6, 2011, in Durham, North Carolina. (Chuck Liddy/Raleigh News & Observer/MCT)

Where is The Staircase filmed?

The Staircase is filmed in Atlanta, Georgia and principal photography started on June 7th 2021 and it was due to wrap in November that year. Actress Toni Colette, who plays Kathleen Peterson, previously revealed on Lorraine, “I leave to film in Atlanta, Georgia in a few weeks and I’m very excited about doing it,” she began. “It’s an amazing cast and fascinating story and, in fact, it kind of encompasses the making of the documentary in the dramatised version.”

Speaking about working opposite Colin Firth, who plays her on-screen husband, Toni added, “I don’t know Colin, I met him years ago at a dinner, but everyone says he’s just so normal and so lovely. I think it’ll be fun, I’m excited!”

Joining Colin Firth and Toni Collette are Michael Stuhlbarg, Juliette Binoche, Dane DeHaan, Olivia DeJonge, Rosemarie DeWitt, Tim Guinee, Patrick Schwarzenegger, Game of Thrones star Sophie Turner, Vincent Vermignon, Odessa Young and Parker Posey.

Is the Staircase a documentary?

The Staircase is a mini docu-series – which is slightly different from a documentary– as it is a television series that follows Michael Peterson’s trial and his involvement in the murder of his wife Kathleen back in 2001.

You can watch the official trailer for the new series below…

Who played Michael Peterson?

Michael Peterson is played by Academy Award winner Colin Firth, best-known for his roles in Kingsman: Secret Service and The King’s Speech. Speaking about playing the real-life crime novelist, who is still alive and now a free man, in an interview with Deadline, Colin said, “I didn’t communicate with Michael Peterson. I felt the way the script was structured and just the whole approach of this was its own ecosystem, so to speak. These are created characters but we all know what the source is. We all know that these characters have names of living people, but it’s very carefully calibrated to tell the story in a certain way. I felt that I wanted to keep my inspiration, my motivation, and the sense of the source material, as much as possible contained within the script and the way it was written.”

He continued,  “I felt that that could have been skewed in some way if I had personal connections, during the shooting of this, with Michael Peters and other people concerned. If I’d had a personal response to the meeting, it might have prevented me from tuning into this world of varying possibilities that had been created.”

What was Kathleen Peterson’s cause of death?

Kathleen Peterson’s cause of death, according to the post-mortem examination, she suffered multiple lacerations of the head consistent with a flat object, that flat object was a step of the stair against which her head impacted several times, not because she fell down the stairs but because Michael Peterson slammed her head against those stairs.

The autopsy report said the number, severity, locations and orientation of these injuries are inconsistent with a fall down the stairs; instead they are indicative of multiple impacts received as a result of beating.

The Staircase airs on HBO Max from May 5th, 2022.