Edgar Ramírez and Mandy Moore star as Paolo and Benita in the second season of Dr. Death, which is based on the hit Wondery podcast. All 8 episodes premiere on December 21, exclusively on Peacock.
Season 2 of Dr. Death follows “Miracle Man” Paolo Macchiarini, a charming surgeon renowned for his innovative operations. When investigative journalist Benita Alexander approaches him for a story, the line between personal and professional begins to blur, changing her life forever. As she learns how far Paolo will go to protect his secrets, a group of doctors halfway across the world make shocking discoveries of their own that call everything about Paolo into question.
“No one is above or exempt of being the victim of a deception. I mean, no one is above manipulation, no one is above being the unfortunate receiving end of manipulation, and the question should never be, ‘How could you believe him? How could you believe this situation,’” Ramírez expressed. “‘How can people use their skills and talent to damage other people in that way,’ that should be the question, not the other way around because it happens. Unfortunately, it happens way too much and we have seen over and over how, especially women, are always blamed for having believed other people when there are people with enough skills and talent to be able to manipulate, to put together a couple of true facts, it’s almost like sandwich the truth — you put a lie, a truth, and another lie, and you eat the sandwich and it’s easy because the meat is true, but all the elements are fictional or untrue.”
“I know I was a fan of season one and I was floored at some of the statistics that were sort of shown at the end of the series. You’re like, ‘Wow, this is the third leading cause of death in the United States, that’s wild.’ That sort of stuff is mind-boggling and ultimately, I hope it does engender a conversation around advocating for oneself and recognizing that you are your own strongest, best advocate when it comes to navigating the medical system and obviously, not to have just an inherent distrust of these sorts of institutions, but to call into question, like checking your own gut when it feels necessary,” Moore shared with me. “I think it’s fun to sort of be able to tell a really dark, dramatized story like this that, obviously, is based on true events in a very respectful manner, but obviously, having these sorts of really worthy, important conversations too around health and advocacy and the medical world.”
I asked the actors about the importance of bringing this story to television, what conversations they hope the series continues to inspire, and personal takeaways.
Watch my interview below:
