# Interview With "Death By Lightning" Creator, Executive Producer & Writer Mike Makowsky

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-next-best-picture-podcast-678900/interview-with-death-by-lightning-creator-executive-producer-writer-mike-makowsky
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-next-best-picture-podcast-678900/interview-with-death-by-lightning-creator-executive-producer-writer-mike-makowsky.md
Podcast: [The Next Best Picture Podcast](https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-next-best-picture-podcast-678900)
Published: 2026-06-18T18:06:00+00:00
Episode link: https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/pdst.fm/e/mgln.ai/e/1402/pscrb.fm/rss/p/swap.fm/track/2IMk17EdnEqyRhJTIpIU/traffic.megaphone.fm/FPMN2865373765.mp3
Audio file: https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/pdst.fm/e/mgln.ai/e/1402/pscrb.fm/rss/p/swap.fm/track/2IMk17EdnEqyRhJTIpIU/traffic.megaphone.fm/FPMN2865373765.mp3
Processing state: not_requested
JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-next-best-picture-podcast-678900/episodes/interview-with-death-by-lightning-creator-executive-producer-writer-mike-makowsky
Duration seconds: 1413

## Resource

"Death by Lightning" is an American historical drama miniseries created by Mike Makowsky and based on the 2011 book "Destiny of the Republic" by Candice Millard. It stars Michael Shannon as United States President James A. Garfield and Matthew Macfadyen as his assassin, Charles J. Guiteau. The four-episode series premiered on Netflix on November 6th, 2025, and received widespread acclaim from critics, with particular praise for the performances, writing, and direction, and was named one of the best television programs of the year by the American Film Institute. Creator, Executive Producer, and Writer Mike Makowsky was kind enough to spend some time talking with us about his work and experience making the miniseries, which you can listen to below. Please be sure to check out the show, which is available to watch on Netflix and is up for your consideration for this year's Emmy Awards in all eligible categories. Thank you, and enjoy! Check out more on NextBestPicture.com Please subscribe on... Apple Podcasts - https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/negs-best-film-podcast/id1087678387?mt=2 Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/7IMIzpYehTqeUa1d9EC4jT YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWA7KiotcWmHiYYy6wJqwOw And be sure to help support us on Patreon for as little as $1 a month at https://www.patreon.com/NextBestPicture and listen to this podcast ad-free Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

## Actions

- request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-next-best-picture-podcast-678900/episodes/interview-with-death-by-lightning-creator-executive-producer-writer-mike-makowsky/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode.
- read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-next-best-picture-podcast-678900/interview-with-death-by-lightning-creator-executive-producer-writer-mike-makowsky.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource.

A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed.

## Transcript

Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.