Colin Firth; Michael Peterson

Actor Colin Firth and author Michael Peterson.

| Credit: Paul Bruinooge/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images; Everett Collection

The Staircase, the true-crime docuseries about author Michael Peterson that became a pop culture sensation when it arrived on Netflix in 2018, is about to get new mainstream attention as the case will be turned into a new dramatic limited series.

Oscar winner Colin Firth will star in the eight-episode series for HBO Max as Peterson, who was convicted in 2003 of murdering his second wife, Kathleen, after she was found dead at the bottom of their home staircase.

Kathleen's death led to a lot of theories during the investigation, including one about how an owl might've gotten into the house and attacked her, leading to her fatal fall.

Furthermore, it was uncovered that while Peterson was living in Germany, a family friend died from an intracerebral hemorrhage that led them to fall down a flight of stairs. While German police and U.S. military officials determined the death was accidental, the incident was cited during the trial as allegedly what gave Peterson the idea of how to stage Kathleen's accident years later. 

Peterson was granted a new trial eight years after his conviction when a judge ruled that a critical witness for the prosecution gave misleading testimony. He then entered an Alford plea in 2017 to voluntary manslaughter, and he was sentenced to time already served.