Joshua Jackson Replaces Jamie Dornan in Peacock’s ‘Dr. Death’

The ‘Little Fires Everywhere’ star takes over the title role after Dornan drops out due to scheduling conflicts.

Joshua Jackson has taken on a killer new part.

The former Dawson’s Creek and The Affair star will play the title role in Peacock’s Dr. Death, based on the Wondery podcast of the same title. He takes over for Jamie Dornan, who was originally cast in the part but had to drop out when production was delayed by the coronavirus pandemic. Filming is now slated to begin later in the fall.

Jackson joins the previously cast Alec Baldwin and Christian Slater on the series, which comes from Universal Studio Group’s UCP and showrunner Patrick Macmanus (Syfy’s Happy).

Dr. Death tells the true story of Dr. Christopher Duntsch (Jackson), a rising star in the Dallas medical community who was building a flourishing neurosurgery practice — until patients who came in for complex but routine spinal surgeries either died or were left permanently maimed. As the victim count rose, two other doctors, neurosurgeon Robert Henderson (Baldwin) and vascular surgeon Randall Kirby (Slater), set to to stop him.

The series will also explore the twisted mind of Dr. Duntsch and the failures of a system designed to protect the defenseless.

Jackson is coming off Hulu’s Little Fires Everywhere, where he starred opposite Reese Witherspoon and Kerry Washington. His TV work also includes When They See Us and Fringe. He’s repped by CAA, Anonymous Content and Hansen Jacobson.

Macmanus, who has an overall deal at UCP, executive produces Dr. Death with Todd Black, Jason Blumenthal, Steve Tisch and Taylor Latham of Escape Artists and Wondery’s Hernan Lopez and Marshall Lewy. Maggie Kiley (Dirty John: The Betty Broderick Story) directs and executive produces the first two episodes; Jennifer Morrison and So Yong Kim are also set to direct episodes.