Painkiller is an American drama limited series made for Netflix and created by Micah Fitzerman-Blue and Noah Harpster. The six-episode series, which is based on Patrick Radden Keefe's New Yorker article "The Family That Built an Empire of Pain" and Pain Killer: An Empire of Deceit and the Origin of America’s Opioid Epidemic by Barry Meier, focuses on the birth of the opioid crisis with an emphasis on Purdue Pharma, the manufacturer of OxyContin.
The series stars Uzo Aduba (Orange Is the New Black), Taylor Kitsch (Friday Night Lights), Carolina Bartczak (X-Men: Apocalypse), John Ales (Euphoria), Sam Anderson (Forrest Gump, Lost), and Matthew Broderick (Ferris Bueller’s Day Off) as Richard Sackler, the American billionaire businessman and physician who was the chairman and president of Purdue Pharma.
Painkiller premiered on Netflix on August 10, 2023. Watch the official trailer below.