Recognize Death by Lightning's Charles Guiteau? Here's Where You've Seen Him
If Death by Lightning leaves Charles Guiteau feeling eerily familiar, thank Matthew Macfadyen, who turns the assassin into a chillingly charismatic déjà vu—channeling the same razor-sharp expressions and sly charm that made his past performances unforgettable.
If you just finished Death by Lightning and thought, wait, why does Charles Guiteau look so familiar? That would be Matthew Macfadyen doing what he does best: quietly stealing scenes with micro-expressions and that unnerving charm you remember from Succession. He has been doing this across stage, film, and TV for years, which is why his face sticks in your brain even when he is playing a 19th-century assassin.
Why Macfadyen feels familiar
He has one of those performances you can clock from a mile away: restrained, precise, just a little wicked. The same subtle mannerisms he used to make Tom Wambsgans both pathetic and terrifying are at work here, which is probably why Guiteau feels instantly recognizable. He is also, frankly, one of the most consistently good British actors working right now, which helps.
Where you have seen him before
- 2005: Pride & Prejudice — Mr. Darcy (Universal Pictures). Box office: $120.8 million worldwide. IMDb: 8.8/10. Rotten Tomatoes: 87%.
- 2007: Death at a Funeral — Simon (Lionsgate). Box office: $49 million worldwide. IMDb: 7.3/10. Rotten Tomatoes: 63%.
- 2018–2023: Succession — Tom Wambsgans (HBO). Part of the Emmy-winning ensemble. IMDb: 8.8/10. Rotten Tomatoes: 95%.
Drama, dark comedy, period pieces — he slides between them without breaking a sweat. The throughline is those tiny, surgical choices that linger after the credits.
Death by Lightning: Macfadyen as Guiteau
The four-episode miniseries centers on Charles J. Guiteau, the delusional man who assassinated President James A. Garfield. It premiered on November 6 and is already making noise, largely because Macfadyen goes all-in on Guiteau's bizarre conviction that the world owes him everything. The show mixes historical drama with a modern sensibility and some deliberately anachronistic dialogue, so do not go in expecting a straight history lesson — it is more of a character spiral.
'Macfadyen, known for playing grasping losers, excels in portraying Guiteau's blend of desperation, delusion, and comic tragedy.'
— The Guardian
Viewers have been calling him a 'wide-eyed, Gilded-Age Tom Wambsgans,' which tracks. Because Guiteau is the focal point of the series, Macfadyen gets the room to dominate the screen, and the vibe hits immediately — you recognize the performance long before his name pops up.
What he is doing next
First up: The Miniature Wife, a high-concept comedy-drama arriving on Sky UK and NOW in 2026. Macfadyen stars opposite Elizabeth Banks as Les, a husband dealing with the chaos that follows a tech mishap that literally shrinks his wife. It sounds like a blend of absurdity and sweetness — exactly the kind of tonal tightrope he likes to walk.
He is also attached to Legacy of Spies, playing John le Carre's iconic spymaster George Smiley. That one is the prestige play — broadcaster and release date are still TBA, but anticipation is already high.
Between a genre-bending comedy, a heavyweight spy adaptation, and the Netflix turn that just reminded everyone why he is so good, Macfadyen is about to be unavoidable — not that I am complaining.
Death by Lightning is streaming now on Netflix. What did you think of his Guiteau? Drop your take in the comments.