Sophie Turner Joins HBO Max True Crime Series

HBO Max just added another famous name to the cast of The Staircase. Game of Thrones star Sophie Turner joins the Colin Firth-led true-crime limited series at the streamer and will play Margaret Ratliff, one of Michael Peterson's adopted daughters, Variety reports. In the eight-episode series, Peterson is accused of murdering his wife, Kathleen, in 2001. As documented in various books and reports about the real-life case, Peterson claimed Kathleen died after falling down the stairs at their home, but police suspected he bludgeoned her to death and staged the scene to make it look like an accident.

Turner, who is best known for her role as Sansa Stark in Game of Thrones — another HBO megahit — joins previously announced cast members Colin Firth, who will play Michael Peterson; Toni Collette, who will play Kathleen Peterson; Juliette Binoche, who has an unspecified role; Rosemarie DeWitt, who plays Kathleen's sister Candace Zamperini; and Parker Posey, who plays Assistant D.A. Freda Black.

After Kathleen's death, Peterson adopted Kathleen's daughters, who stood by his side. However, it was discovered that a family friend of Peterson's had died of similar injuries after falling down a staircase while Peterson was living in Germany. The Staircase was picked up to series at HBO Max in March and is written and executive produced by showrunners Antonio Campos and Maggie Cohn. A docuseries of the same name was originally released in 2004, with creator Jean-Xavier de Lestrade updating with new information years later. Netflix released it as a 13-episode series in 2018, and it went on to be a huge hit.

HBO Max is also making headlines this week for rolling out a cheaper, ad-supported subscription option. It will cost $10 a month or $99 a year. The biggest difference for anyone choosing between the new ad-supported tier and the regular option — which costs $15 a month — is access to day-of movie releases. Those who have the ad-supported version will not be able to watch Same-Day Premieres, IGN reports. Customers of the ad-supported tier will also not be able to make a one-time purchase for a film that hits HBO Max's premium account on the same day it's in theaters; it's only available via the no ads plan.

However, with the ad-supported version, HBO Max promises the "lowest commercial ad load in the streaming industry." The company said the tier, which will be "rolling out throughout the day" on Wednesday, will feature a maximum of four minutes per hour of ads — and none during HBO programming.