‘Painkiller’: Taylor Kitsch, Ana Cruz Kayne, & Tyler Ritter Among New Cast of Netflix Limited Series

Courtesy of Greg Williams; Chloe Horseman; John Antonini

Netflix‘s Painkiller has added Taylor Kitsch (Waco, Lone Survivor), Ana Cruz Kayne (Jerry and Marge Go Large), Tyler Ritter (The McCarthys, Homecoming), John Ales (Euphoria, Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll), Sam Anderson (Where The Crawdads Sing, Lost), Carolina Bartczak (X-Men: Apocalypse), Jack Mulhern (Mare of Easttown), and Ron Lea (This Is Wonderland) to its cast.

Previously announced cast of the limited drama series about the origins of the opioid crisis and the role of Purdue Pharma include Uzo Aduba, Matthew Broderick, West Duchovny, Dina Shihabi, and John Rothman.

Kitsch will portray Glen Kryger, a hardworking family man whose life is upended after an injury; Kayne plays Brianna Ortiz, an ambitious young attorney; Ritter will bring to life U.S. Attorney John Brownlee; Ales stars as Gregory Fitzgibbons, a doctor in rural Virginia; Anderson plays Raymond Sackler, co-owner of Purdue Pharma; Bartczak portrays Lily Kryger, Glen’s wife, Mulhern will bring to life Tyler Kryger, Glen’s stepson; and Lea stars as Bill Havens, a veteran attorney.

Painkiller is executive produced by Eric Newman, Micah Fitzerman-Blue, Noah Harpster, Alex Gibney as well as Peter Berg who will direct all episodes. Fitzerman-Blue and Harpster will also write and serve as showrunners.

The New Yorker article ‘The Family That Built an Empire of Pain’ by Patrick Radden Keefe and the book Pain Killer: An Empire of Deceit and the Origin of America’s Opioid Epidemic by Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist and author Barry Meier serves as underlying material for the series, with Keefe and Meier on board as consultants.

Production on the six-episode limited series will begin later this year in Toronto.