TRUE CRIME

HBO Max's ‘The Staircase’ Trailer Reveals a Killer Colin Firth

The HBO Max series is a scripted take on Netflix’s massive true crime docuseries, about a crime novelist accused of murdering his wife after she fell down the stairs.

First there was Netflix’s The Chair, and now, HBO Max is releasing The Staircase. What’s next in the realm of household furniture-themed series: The Fridge? Nevertheless, the Colin Firth and Toni Collette-led mini-series has released its first teaser, offering up a look at the streamer’s next big murder mystery (which, by the way, was also ripped straight from Netflix).

The Staircase is based on the true story of Michael Peterson (Firth) and the suspicious death of his wife Kathleen (Collette). The pair are a happy couple in the first 30 seconds of the trailer, as the family presses rewind on a series of home VHS tapes, but things sour pretty quickly. After Michael is accused of murdering her, the Peterson family is put under the microscope.

We even get to see the beginnings of the Netflix docu-series (also titled The Staircase) as Oscar-winning documentarian Jean-Xavier de Lestrade. This dramatized series is based on the OG documentary saga, though the trailer does show Michael reacting to documentarians hounding him for more information.

In real life—skip ahead if you’re not looking for spoilers, though every bit is accessible via Google—Michael Petersen was convicted for murdering his wife. The crime novelist (hint hint) had initially called the police to report that she had fallen down the stairs of their mansion and died. But how did Michael figure out how to fake an accident? He’d already witnessed a woman fall to her death via stairs before.

NOTES ON A SCANDAL

‘The Staircase’ Director on That Very Scandalous Affair

Nick Schager

Firth leads the series with Collette (who seems to be around for flashbacks and family photos), alongside Sophie Turner, Odessa Young, Patrick Schwarzenegger, Dane DeHaan, and Olivia DeJonge, the children raised by the couple. Rosemarie DeWitt will star as Kathleen’s sister, with Parker Posey, Michael Stuhbarg, and Tim Guinee also starring.

Remember that documentary? Jean-Xavier will be played by Vincent Vermignon, and get this: Juliette Binoche will star as Sophie Brunet, an editor of The Staircase doc that eventually has a romantic relationship with Michael Peterson. How scandalous!

The first three episodes of The Staircase will hit HBO Max on May 5, with new episodes debuting weekly into the summer.

Fletcher PetersEntertainment Reporter

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