Dr. Death is back after the first season of the Peacock series premiered in July 2021. Season 2 focuses on Paolo Macchiarini, a Swiss-Italian surgeon who has been convicted of research-related crimes. PopCulture.com spoke to Dr. Death stars Luke Kirby and Gustaf Hammarsten, who play Dr. Nathan Gamelli and Dr. Anders Svensson, respectively. They talked about how Season 2 stands out from the first season.
“It’s keeping with a theme,” Kirby told PopCulture. “It’s creepy, a little gruesome. I will say this story, there’s a juicy romance that you hope for the best for two people falling in love. And you can certainly expect to watch that unravel.”
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Edgar Ramirez plays Paolo, whose organ transplants turn out to be deadly. While he continues to be beloved in the medical community, Nathan, Anders and eventually Dr. Ana Lakshimi (Ashley Madekwe) become whistleblowers and try to expose him for who he is. At the same time, Paolo becomes romantically involved with Benita Alexander (Mandy Moore), an investigative journalist who interviews Paolo for a story. As Benita learns more about Paolo, she uncovers more about him than anticipated.
“Playing a whistleblower, I love it,” Hammarsten said. “Sometimes you want to play the villain, the bad guy. But, in this case, because it’s set in Sweden also, so I could relate to this. As I said, I’ve been at this hospital with my kids and myself, so it’s very close to me. And, to playing this Swedish doctor, this whistleblower, I was all in. If I would’ve had wrote down a dream role, it would probably be something like this.”
Because of how the story is told, Nathan, Anders and Ana don’t work with Benita to expose Paolo. But the series begins with Nathan and Anders teaming together, while Ana works with Paolo on the procedures. “She’s a fantastic actress and I think the buildup with these three characters, me and Luke, we were close friends in the story,” Hammarsten said of Madekwe. “And so, Ana was a little bit more distant. But then, in the story, she came in and in the end and we ended up working together. Yeah. She’s a great actress and it’s always fantastic to work with great actors.”
After working on Dr. Death Season 2, Kirby and Hammarsten learned about the healthcare system. “Health practitioners I know, whom I’m very close with have always said, be your own advocate,” Kirby said. “And I think you can walk away from this experience saying the same thing. I think it’s really important to be on the watch in this field. But, I think that you should be on the watch for when you’re being sold a bill of goods that is too good to be true. I think it’s also fair to say that you should also be on the watch for the goodness that’s out there.”
All eight episodes of Dr. Death Season 2 are streaming on Peacock.
