'Dr. Death' Trailer: Joshua Jackson Is A Killer Surgeon In Peacock Limited Series

How does one earn the nickname "Dr. Death"? By being a neurosurgeon whose gross malpractice resulted in the deaths of two patients and the maiming of over 30 over the course of two years. In the upcoming limited series Dr. Death, Peacock will tell the horrifying real story of Christopher Dunstch, who earned the nickname after being convicted and sentenced to life in prison for a history of willful malpractice. Joshua Jackson takes on the role as the "sociopathic" surgeon in the limited series. Watch the Dr. Death trailer below.

Dr. Death isn't a horror series, but it might as well be – the gore may be minimal, but the real-life consequences of Dr. Christopher Duntsch's history of malpractice is even more horrifying than most fictional  horror stories.

Joshua Jackson, Grace Gummer, AnnaSophia Robb, Christian Slater, and Alec Baldwin star in Dr. Death, which adapts Wondery's podcast about the true story of Dr. Christopher Duntsch, who routinely left patients permanently maimed or dead, and was able to work for years thanks to gaps in the system that still exist. It's as sobering a story as it is horrifying, and Jackson does an excellent job tip toeing between the "sociopath or incompetent" question that many have asked of Duntsch.

Dr. Death is helmed by an all-female directing team including Maggie Kiley (Dirty John: The Betty Broderick Story, who will also executive produce the first two episodes, Jennifer Morrison (Euphoria) and So Yong Kim (Lovesong). The series is executive produced and showrun by Patrick Macmanus (The Girl from Plainville) via his Littleton Road Productions banner, and under his overall deal with UCP. Todd Black, Jason Blumenthal, Steve Tisch and Taylor Latham also executive produce via Escape Artists, as well as Hernan Lopez and Marshall Lewy of Wondery.

Here's the synopsis for Dr. Death:

Based on Wondery's hit podcast, DR. DEATH is inspired by the terrifying true story of Dr. Christopher Duntsch (Joshua Jackson), a rising star in the Dallas medical community. Young, charismatic and ostensibly brilliant, Dr. Duntsch was building a flourishing neurosurgery practice when everything suddenly changed. Patients entered his operating room for complex but routine spinal surgeries and left permanently maimed or dead. As victims piled up, two fellow physicians, neurosurgeon Robert Henderson (Alec Baldwin) and vascular surgeon Randall Kirby (Christian Slater), as well as Dallas prosecutor Michelle Shughart (AnnaSophia Robb), set out to stop him. DR. DEATH explores the twisted mind of Dr. Duntsch and the failures of the system designed to protect the most defenseless among us.

Dr. Death premieres on Peacock this summer 2021.