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May 8, 2023 – Based on Patrick Radden Keefe’s New Yorker article “The Family That Build an Empire of Pain,” and Barry Meier’s book, Pain Killer: An Empire of Deceit and the Origin of America’s Opioid Epidemic, the series will follow a number of people involved in the early days of the crisis, from the Sacklers to the people trying to take them down, such as Uzo Aduba’s Edie, to those affected by the drug, like Taylor Kitsch’s Glen, a car mechanic who hurts his back on the job. “So much of this show is the conviction of a group of people,” executive producer Eric Newman tells EW. “And it was a spectacular group: Barry Meier, who was really the first person to report on this from The New York Times, Patrick Radden Keefe, who was the first person to really point the finger at the Sacklers, at least in print, and Alex Gibney, who is a non-fiction master. Then there’s Pete and [series creators] Noah [Harpster] and Micah [Fitzerman-Blue].” 

The series also follows a few medical sales reps, otherwise known as the people that Purdue was paying very good money to convince doctors to prescribe more of their (highly addictive) drug. For Newman, coming off working on a show like Narcos, he knew this was a different kind of drug story. “Something that Pablo Escobar used to say is, ‘If the coca plant grew in Virginia, cocaine would be legal. And here’s proof.”

Click@EW