{"id":2150627,"date":"2025-11-12T04:26:07","date_gmt":"2025-11-12T04:26:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2150627"},"modified":"2025-11-12T04:26:07","modified_gmt":"2025-11-12T04:26:07","slug":"matthew-macfadyen-explains-guiteaus-gallows-song","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/matthew-macfadyen-explains-guiteaus-gallows-song\/","title":{"rendered":"Matthew Macfadyen Explains Guiteau\u2019s Gallows Song"},"content":{"rendered":"

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[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for\u00a0Death by Lightning, Season 1, Episode 4, \u201cDestiny of the Republic.\u201d]<\/strong><\/p>\n

Death by Lightning <\/a>may tell the story of doomed president James Garfield (Michael Shannon<\/a>), but it equally shines a light on the struggles of his would-be assassin, Charles Guiteau (Matthew Macfadyen<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Netflix\u2019s four-part series brings to light these two lesser-known historical figures, capturing the humanity and motivations of both with striking performances from Shannon and Macfadyen, due in part to showrunner Mike Makowsky, who was inspired by Candice Millard\u2019s 2011 book,\u00a0Destiny of the Republic<\/a>.<\/p>\n

As the show tracks Garfield\u2019s rise to the presidency, it also showcases Giteau\u2019s delusions of believing he played a pivotal role in Garfield\u2019s ascension, earning him a spot among their political peers. When he\u2019s turned away, Guiteau resolves to target Garfield and make Chester Arthur (Nick Offerman<\/a>) president, shooting Garfield at a train station.<\/p>\n

While the attack isn\u2019t immediately deadly, Garfield suffers from an infection and prodding from doctors to the point of death a few months after the ordeal. Guiteau is sent to prison, and he believes his name will carry a place in history until Lucretia Garfield (Betty Gilpin<\/a>) confronts him, vowing to make sure no one remembers him.<\/p>\n

\"Matthew<\/span><\/div>\n

Matthew Macfadyen in ‘Death by Lightning’ Season 1<\/p>\n

Netflix<\/p>\n

When he goes to the gallows, though, Guiteau waves to onlookers, seemingly under the impression that he has an adoring audience, and sings a poem he\u2019s written. As the attendees watch on without much reaction, Guiteau utters a single, \u201cOh,\u201d realizing his fate is soon to be final, and likely without remembrance as Lucretia vowed.<\/p>\n

What exactly was going through Giteau\u2019s head? In Macfadyen\u2019s mind, the actor tells TV Insider, \u201cThat\u2019s all technical, but I think Giteau was sort of\u2026 I think he sort of realized that no one was gonna come and save him. I think he really expected that Chester Arthur, who became president, was gonna send people to take him off [the gallows]. He really thought he was a hero. It\u2019s very sad.\u201d<\/p>\n

This thought process is reflective of Guiteau\u2019s own reported death in history, which also included the recitation of his poem, as the assassin believed he\u2019d be pardoned for having cleared a path for Arthur\u2019s ascension to the role of president. In neither the series nor history was that the case.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne thing that really struck me about Garfield was the last question he ever asked of anybody was, \u2018Do you figure my name might have some place in human history?’\u201d Makowsky remarks. \u201cI think despite how incredible he was in so many ways, he had a limitation that I think was prevalent among a lot of men, especially in politics in his era, who were just so preoccupied with their lasting legacy and etching their mark on American history.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think Lucretia, in that moment, after her husband asks her, she doesn\u2019t really know what to say to him, and you sort of see that play on Betty\u2019s face a little bit,\u201d Makowsky explains, going on to add, \u201cSo, when she\u2019s confronting Giteau in that last scene [at the prison]\u2026 I think she is aware that her husband is not going to matter necessarily for future generations of Americans, but she wants to let her husband\u2019s murderer know that he mattered to their family.\u201d<\/p>\n

In other words, Lucretia\u2019s confrontation with Guiteau was less about diminishing Guiteau\u2019s presence in history but rather about reminding him that Garfield\u2019s legacy will always matter more. \u201cI think that is sort of the significance of that moment,\u201d Makowsky shares.<\/p>\n

What did you think of Guiteau\u2019s ending and Lucretia\u2019s promise? Sound off in the comments section, and relive every epic moment from\u00a0Death by Lightning any time on Netflix.<\/p>\n

Death by Lightning<\/strong>, Streaming now, Netflix<\/strong><\/p>\n

Read the latest entertainment news on TV Insider<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.yahoo.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for\u00a0Death by Lightning, Season 1, Episode 4, \u201cDestiny of the Republic.\u201d] Death by Lightning may tell the story of doomed president James Garfield (Michael Shannon), but it equally shines a light on the struggles of his would-be assassin, Charles Guiteau (Matthew Macfadyen). Netflix\u2019s four-part series brings to light these […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2150628,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25173],"tags":[351352,351347,351353,351355,351796,411337,351344,351345,410066,23191],"class_list":["post-2150627","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-artists","tag-betty-gilpin","tag-charles-guiteau","tag-chester-arthur","tag-death-by-lightning","tag-james-garfield","tag-lucretia-garfield","tag-matthew-macfadyen","tag-michael-shannon","tag-mike-makowsky","tag-netflix"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Matthew-Macfadyen-Explains-Guiteaus-Gallows-Song.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2150627","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2150627"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2150627\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2150629,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2150627\/revisions\/2150629"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2150628"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2150627"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2150627"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2150627"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}