‘Dr. Death’ Recasting: Joshua Jackson Takes Over Title Role From Jamie Dornan

The coronavirus pandemic has affected the upcoming Peacock series, Dr. Death‘s lead.

The Affair‘s Joshua Jackson is taking over the title role in the adaptation from Patrick Macmanus (Happy!) and based on the hit Wondery podcast. He joins the previously announced Alec Baldwin and Christian Slater.

The Fall‘s Jamie Dornan, who was originally cast in the role, is no longer available due to pandemic-related production delays. Filming for Dr. Death is slated to begin this fall.

The series, based on a true story, follows Jackson’s Dr. Christopher Duntsch, a rising star in the medical community in Dallas. Described as “young, charismatic and ostensibly brilliant,” he “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,” the logline reads.

“As victims piled up, two fellow physicians, neurosurgeon Robert Henderson (Baldwin) and vascular surgeon Randall Kirby (Slater), set out to stop him,” it continues. The series “explores the twisted mind of Dr. Duntsch and the failures of the system designed to protect the most defenseless among us.”

Jackson’s previous TV credits also include Little Fires Everywhere, When They See Us, and Dawson’s Creek.

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Macmanus serves as showrunner and executive produces via his Littleton Road Productions banner and under his overall deal with UCP, a division of Universal Studio Group. Todd Black, Jason Blumenthal, Steve Tisch, and Taylor Latham also executive produce via Escape Artists, as do Hernan Lopez and Marshall Lewy of Wondery. Maggie Kiley will executive produce the first two episodes. Kiley, Jennifer Morrison, and So Yong Kim will direct.

Dr. Death, TBA, Peacock