The Staircase teaser: Colin Firth & Toni Collette star in true-crime HBO Max series

HBO Max has released a teaser for The Staircase, an eight-episode true-crime series that explores the life of Micheal Peterson, his sprawling North Carolina family, and the suspicious death of his wife, Kathleen Peterson.

Colin Firth stars as Michael Peterson in The Staircase alongside Toni Collette as Kathleen Peterson. Juliette Binoche, Rosemarie DeWitt, Sophie Turner, Patrick Schwarzenegger, Dane DeHaan, Michael Stuhlbarg, and Parker Posey also star in the series which was created by Antonio Campos (The Devil All the Time). Campos also wrote and executive produced the series alongside Maggie Cohn (American Crime Story) and directed six episodes with Leigh Janiak (Fear Street) helming the remaining two.

The true story of the death of Kathleen Peterson has been the subject of countless TV shows, including Forensic Files, American Justice, and more, as well as a 2004 French documentary series which is what originally hooked Campos. “I felt like I knew everything about this guy by the end,” Campos told Vanity Fair, “because everything had come out about him, but at the same time I still didn’t know who he was.” As you can see in the teaser, The Staircase shifts between three timelines, with one taking place in the days leading up to Kathleen’s death, the other in the immediate aftermath and the trial, and the last in the present day. Colin Firth doesn’t typically take TV roles, let alone true-crime ones, but he felt this was an experience he couldn’t refuse.

I found it all hard to fathom. But it was so alive, and that’s a rather elusive notion. When you read as many scripts as one has done by my age, it’s life you’re looking for, something that’s animated, that moves, that interweaves different concepts—that doesn’t resolve itself in any way that’s ever facile.

The first three episodes of The Staircase will debut on HBO Max on May 5, 2022.