‘Dr. Death’: Maggie Kiley To Direct First 2 Episodes As Peacock Limited Series Sets All-Female Directing Team

By Nellie Andreeva

EXCLUSIVE: Maggie Kiley (Dirty John: The Betty Broderick Story, Riverdale) is set to direct and executive produce the first two episodes of Peacock’s limited series Dr. Death, starring Jamie Dornan, Alec Baldwin and Christian Slater. Kiley replaces Stephen Frears, who had signed on for the project in January but had to step away due to scheduling conflicts given the shift of production dates due to coronavirus pandemic. Dr. Death, from UCP, was among a slew of shows whose production was delayed by months amid the pandemic.

Dr. Death explores the twisted mind of a sociopath and the failures of the system designed to protect the most defenseless among us. It tells the terrifying true story of Dr. Christopher Duntsch (Dornan), 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 (Baldwin) and vascular surgeon Randall Kirby (Slater), set out to stop him.

Dr. Death is written and executive produced by Patrick Macmanus under his overall deal with UCP. Todd Black, Jason Blumenthal and Steve Tisch also executive produce via Escape Artists, as well as Hernan Lopez and Marshall Lewy of Wondery.

Dr. Death reunites Kiley with Slater. She most recently served as director and co-executive producer of USA Network’s Dirty John: The Betty Broderick Story, the second installment in the anthology series which starred Amanda Peet and Slater. She directed four out of eight episodes, including the series premiere and finale. Kiley was the first individual selected for Ryan Murphy’s Half Initiative – an inclusive program that creates equal opportunities for women and minorities behind the camera. From that, she went on to direct episodes of Murphy’s American Horror Story: Cult, Scream Queens and 9-1-1. ​Her additional TV credits include directing the pilot and finale episodes of The CW’s Katy Keene, multiple episodes of The CW’s Riverdale; Marvel’s The Gifted; Netflix’s anthology series What/If; Netflix’s Chilling Adventures of Sabrina and Insatiable; Syfy’s George R.R. Martin series, Nightflyers; and YouTube Red’s Impulse. Kiley is repped by CAA and Jackoway Austen Tyerman.