Netflix is ​​turning this book by KC’s Candice Millard into a series with some big stars

Local author Candice Millard has already made her way to Hollywood, where potential producers bought options on her nonfiction bestsellers.

“I know a lot of these things look exciting and then just never happen,” the Leawood resident said.

But now the time has come. And it’s really happening.

Netflix has announced that Destiny of the Republic, Millard’s 2011 story about President James Garfield and his assassination in 1881, will be adapted into a television series. The series is produced by the creators of Game of Thrones (David Benioff and DB Weiss) and stars Michael Shannon and Matthew Macfadyen.

Shannon (“The Shape of Water,” “George & Tammy,” “Boardwalk Empire”) will play Garfield, and two-time Emmy winner Macfadyen (“Succession,” “Pride and Prejudice”) will play his killer, Charles Guiteau. The series, for which no release date has yet been announced, will be titled “Death by Lightning.”

Netflix’s promotional materials state: “Death by Lightning is a drama series that brings to life the epic and incredible true story of James Garfield, the reluctant 20th President of the United States, and his greatest admirer, Charles Guiteau – the man who tried to kill him.”

Millard has no problem with the title change, because it goes back to an ironic quote from Garfield himself, which he made 16 years after the assassination of Abraham Lincoln as he entered the White House: “You can no more protect yourself from being assassinated than you can from being struck by lightning, and you should not worry about either.”

She also has nothing but praise for Mike Makowsky’s screenplay.

“Of course he takes literary liberties, which I expected and understood,” she said. “But what was most important to me was that the basic story stayed true and, above all, our understanding of James Garfield … that he was brilliant, he was brave, he was a decent, good, kind person and probably would have become one of our great leaders. That was important to me and that comes across in the script.”

Makowsky, 32, wrote HBO’s “Bad Education,” which starred Hugh Jackman, Allison Janney and Ray Romano and won the 2020 Emmy for Best TV Movie, and “I Think We’re Alone Now,” starring Peter Dinklage and Elle Fanning.

He had read “Destiny of the Republic” in high school and approached Millard about five years ago with the idea for the screen. She says she trusts him to do a good job and calls Makowsky an “original thinker.”

“He’s approaching it in his own way, which I wanted and respect,” she said. “I think that was the only way it could have been done. It’s very faithful to history, but he managed to capture the attention and imagination of people in Hollywood, which is hard to do with a period piece. But what about James Garfield?”

Millard is working on her fifth book, which like the others will focus on a relatively overlooked chapter of history. This one will focus on British nurse Edith Cavell and her heroic service in German-occupied Belgium during World War I. The book will be published about three years later.

In the meantime, she will follow the production of the Netflix series, which she says will be filmed in Budapest this summer.

“You have these beautiful old buildings that make you feel like you’re in Washington, D.C., in 1881,” Millard said.

Although she was not involved in the project beyond writing the book, she could accept the producers’ invitation and attend the filming on location.

“That’s the icing on the cake for me,” Millard said. “It’s just fun. So I’m perfectly content watching from the sidelines.”

“The most exciting thing about it for me is that I hope it brings Garfield’s story to a whole new segment of the population. There were so many people who didn’t know anything about Garfield, but more than that, they thought there was nothing interesting to know about him.”

Candice Millard’s books

▪ “River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt’s Darkest Journey” (2005)

▪ “The Fate of the Republic: A Story of Madness, Medicine, and the Assassination of a President” (2011)

▪ “Hero of the Empire: The Boer War, a Daring Escape, and the Making of Winston Churchill” (2016)

▪ “River of the Gods: Genius, Courage and Betrayal in Search of the Source of the Nile” (2022)