Painkiller puts a sharp focus on the pain wrought by America’s opioid epidemic. The limited series, premiering Aug. 10, charts the skyrocketing business of Purdue Pharma’s OxyContin campaign in the US — a movement which quickly became a health care crisis that’s still ravaging America today.
With a cast that includes Uzo Aduba, Matthew Broderick, and Taylor Kitsch, Painkiller recounts the “several moments when this epidemic could’ve been stopped,” co-showrunner Noah Harpster told Netflix during production. Micah Fitzerman-Blue also serves as co-showrunner, with Eric Newman (Narcos), Alex Gibney, and Pete Berg executive producing.
Learn more about the cast who play the perpetrators, victims, and truth-seekers whose lives are altered by the introduction of OxyContin in the series below. While some characters — like the Sacklers and US Attorney John Brownlee — are inspired by real people, others are fictional, representing the experiences of so many.
Edie Flowers is a no-nonsense lawyer working for the US attorney’s office in Roanoke who’s investigating the new drug OxyContin. She attempts to bring a case against Purdue Pharma, the company that makes OxyContin and is widely blamed for creating the opioid epidemic in America.
Aduba’s character serves as the series’ anchor. “She’s our guide as we unpack the complexities of what Purdue did and how the opioid epidemic started and then spread,” Berg previously told Netflix.
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Richard Sackler is the scion of the billionaire family and a senior executive at Purdue Pharma. He’s the nephew of Arthur Sackler, the founder of Purdue. After Arthur passes away and saddles his family with debt, it’s Richard’s idea to make opiates the company’s profit engine.
In Broderick’s portrayal of him, Sackler “certainly doesn’t think that he’s the bad guy in the story of his life, and one of the really interesting things about Matthew is that he’s just an incredibly nice and kind person, which he brings to playing a character who’s morally questionable,” Berg told Netflix. “He’s found a whole other dimension to what could have been a somewhat one-note character.”
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Glen Kryger is a hardworking family man and small business owner whose life is upended after he suffers an injury at work and his doctor prescribes him OxyContin.
Casting Kitsch in the series felt like a family reunion for Berg — they first worked together on Friday Night Lights. “Taylor is like my little brother,” Berg told Netflix.
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Shannon Schaeffer is an ex-college athlete who’s desperate to leave her parents’ home in Ohio. She finds a job as a new recruit to the Purdue sales team. As her role becomes increasingly lucrative, her conscience comes into play.
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Lily Kryger is Glen’s wife. She is very much in love with him and tries her best to support her husband after his injury. But she is pushed to the brink by his increasingly dangerous and harmful behaviors.
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Tyler Kryger is Glen’s 17-year-old stepson who is prone to angst and rebellion. He struggles with guilt because Glen’s accident happened while they were arguing at their family-owned tire shop.
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Britt Hufford is a veteran sales rep for Purdue who mentors Shannon. Beneath her unflinching devotion to the company lies deep insecurity.
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Arthur Sackler is the patriarch of the Sackler family and founder of Purdue. He is the one who realized that the big money in medicine was in sales and marketing. He appears to Richard as an apparition throughout the series to guide his nephew in his handling of the family legacy.
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John Rothman as Mortimer Sackler (left) in Season 1 of Painkiller.
Mortimer Sackler is the co-owner of Purdue Pharma and Richard Sackler’s uncle.
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US Attorney John Brownlee is Edie Flowers’ new boss, who is a clean-cut straight-shooter. She works hard to convince him to take down Purdue in pursuit of true justice.
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Painkiller premieres on Netflix Aug. 10.
