According to Deadline, Toni Collette is set to star opposite Colin Firth in The Staircase, HBO Max’s drama limited series adaptation based on the true-crime docuseries. Collette will play Kathleen Peterson, a corporate executive, mother, stepmother of five and wife of Michael Peterson, played by Firth. The eight-episode series from Antonio Campos, who directed the Rebecca Hall-fronted feature Christine, and American Crime Story writer Maggie Cohn, explores of life of Michael Peterson, his sprawling North Carolina family and the suspicious death of his wife, Kathleen. The series is based on the docuseries and various books and reports on the case. Michael Peterson was convicted of murdering Kathleen in 2001, a charge that was reduced to manslaughter in 2017 and Peterson released from prison. He had claimed his wife died after falling down the stairs at their home after consuming alcohol and Valium, but an autopsy concluded she died from multiple injuries, including blows to the back of her head with a blunt object. Jean-Xavier de Lestrade’s docuseries premiered in 2004 and was released on Netflix as a 13-episode series in 2018. The Staircase is written and executive produced by Campos and Cohn, who also serve as showrunners. The series is a co-production between HBO Max and Annapurna TV.
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