Emmy-nominated actor Edgar Ramírez (The Assassination of Gianni Versace) has been cast in the lead role in Season 2 of Peacock’s anthology series Dr. Death. The second season is based on the third season of the podcast of the same name.
According to Deadline, Ramírez will portray real-life doctor Paolo Macchiarini, an Italian thoracic surgeon who became notorious for his synthetic trachea transplants, which resulted in the deaths of three patients in Sweden.
When his fiancé and his colleagues become suspicious after his botched surgeries, an investigation kicks off and uncovers many of the secrets the doctor had been keeping from his patients and the medical community across the globe.
This past summer, a Swedish court cleared Macchiarini of two assault charges and gave him two years of probation. Prosecutors recommended Macchiarini be sentenced to five years in prison for causing bodily harm, but the court ruled that he did not intend to harm his patients.
Season 1 of Dr. Death followed Christopher Duntsch, a Dallas-area neurosurgeon nicknamed Dr. Death for gross malpractice that resulted in the permanent damage of several of his patients’ spines. He was convicted of intentionally maiming one of his patients and sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole in 2045.
Edgar Ramírez was last seen on TV in the 2020 HBO miniseries The Undoing with Nicole Kidman and Hugh Grant. He will star in the Netflix series Florida Man about an ex-cop searching for a mobster’s runaway girlfriend.