When Mandy Moore was first approached about starring in Season 2 of “Dr. Death,” she was ready to branch out.
“I just was so excited to take on something that just felt different from anything I’ve ever done before,” Moore told TheWrap. The Peacock original marks the first major television series the actor has starred in since the conclusion of “This Is Us.” But it was the knowledge that Édgar Ramírez would be part of this project as well that really sold the actress on the series.
“We both love Season 1, and I just knew we were going to make something special,” Moore said.
“We really wanted to work together. When I heard that Mandy wanted to do it, I was so happy,” Ramírez told TheWrap, noting that he felt like the planets were going to “align” for them on this project.
“Ultimately, as an actor, I really want to have experiences like the one we had where you can really abandon yourself completely to your partner and be safe with them,” Ramírez said. “We knew that we were going to navigate very, very dark waters.”
Much like Season 1, the second installment is indeed a dark story. But unlike its predecessor, Ramírez described this season as “a beautiful love story that then gets shattered.”
Just like the podcast of the same name, “Dr. Death’s” second season is based on the real-life reign of crimes orchestrated by the Italian thoracic surgeon Paolo Macchiarini. In the mid 2010s, Macchiarini became a major name in the medical community due to his method of using patients’ own stem cells as trachea transplants. But the more famous he became, the more those around him began to question his claims. His medical malpractice eventually led to an investigation by the Swedish Prosecution Authority, and he was eventually convicted by the courts for causing bodily harm.
Unlike Season 1’s deep dive into Christopher Duntsch, Season 2 centers around the budding romance between this too-good-to-be-true surgeon and journalist Benita Alexander (Moore). Even though this true crime tale is the center of Season 3 of the podcast, executive producer Ashley Michel Hoban called Macchiarini’s story “a no brainer” for Season 2.
“In Season 1, we got to explore Duntsch’s downfall. But this season, we’re falling in love with a man along with Benita, and we’re falling in line with the man along with the whistleblowers,” Hoban told TheWrap. “It’s a different way to approach the whole ‘Dr. Death’ franchise.”
Adding to the enthralling nature of this season was its international focus. Because Macchiarini’s work spanned the globe, this season becomes more of a critique of international medical standards than simply U.S. healthcare.
“I think we were all surprised in this season to find that somewhere like Sweden, or anywhere in Europe, could have some of the same systemic problems that we see in our medical system,” Hoban said. “We have these peer-reviewed research papers that are a kind of self a self-policing system, and we explore in the show the problems with that. With medicine and money, when those two things come together, it doesn’t always necessarily lead to patient advocacy.”
Then there was Benita Alexander’s role in Macchiarini’s rise to fame. Because of her position as a journalist who produced a story on the surgeon, the season questions what it means to blur the lines of journalistic ethics.
Peacock Hits 30 Million Paid Subscribers
“She’s so capable and so strong and really at the top of her field,” Moore said of her character. “I hope that because of that people are able to see themselves in her. She’s sort of a surrogate for the audience.”
Hoban emphasized that it was important that the audience meet Paolo Macchiarini through Benita’s eyes. “She is skeptical, she does her research, she’s smart. And it all checks out. The fact is, it did all check out,” Hoban said of Macchiarini’s lies. “I think audiences will find her character sympathetic and that people will really find her struggle universal. Because this can really happen to anybody, frankly.”
When it came to creating Season 2, neither Hoban nor executive producer Patrick Macmanus reached out to the real-life people at the center of this stranger-than-fiction saga. Rather, they relied heavily on interviews from the original Wondery podcast while still trying to keep the patients most impacted by Macchiarini’s crimes “in the forefront.”
“We named the patients. That was really important for all of us that we name these patients, the real people, and try to tell their stories because their journeys were so difficult and harrowing,” Hoban said.
Yet it was equally important for the team to “shine a light” not just on the faults of the healthcare system but on the people who have put their lives and reputations on the line to try and do the right thing.
“As much of a horror story as both seasons of ‘Dr. Death’ can be looked at, it should also be looked at through the heroic lens,” Macmanus told TheWrap. “What I’ve always hoped from Season 1 and on was that we really were focused more on the heroes than on the villains of the story.”
All episodes of “Dr. Death” Season 2 are now streaming on Peacock.
