Death by Lightning Season 1 ending explained: How did James Garfield die?

James A. Garfield, the 20th President of the United States was shot by Charles Guiteau on July 2, 1881 but he survived. He ultimately died from the infection and the negligence of the doctors and medical care. He died of sepsis on September 19, 1881  at age 49.

Netflix’s Death by Lightning Season 1 tells this exact story. The four episode miniseries dropped on 6th November 2025. Creator Mike Makowsky adapted Candice Millard’s 2011 book Destiny of the Republic. Game of Thrones team David Benioff and D.B. Weiss are the executive producers while Matt Ross leads direction.

Michael Shannon plays Garfield as a brilliant reluctant leader. Matthew Macfadyen is the delusional Guiteau. Betty Gilpin is First Lady Lucretia. Nick Offerman transforms into Chester A. Arthur. Shea Whigham snarls as Senator Roscoe Conkling. Bradley Whitford plays Secretary James G. Blaine.

The series covers Garfield’s 1880 surprise nomination, his war on corruption, Guiteau’s descent into madness, the shooting, the botched treatment and the reforms that followed. It is history told like a thriller.

Death by Lightning season 1 ending explained: James Garfield’s death and its aftermath

Episode 3 opens on a humid Saturday morning. Garfield walks into the Baltimore and Potomac station with Blaine. No Secret Service exists yet. Guiteau waited near the ladies’ waiting room. He chose a British Bulldog shotgun with ivory grips to execute his plan.

Garfield turns to say goodbye and Guiteau fires twice. The first shot tears through Garfield’s right sleeve. The second enters four inches right of the spine, breaks a rib and stops near the pancreas. Garfield drops to the floor. He cries out: “My God, what is this?”

Dr. D.W. Bliss arrives within minutes. He shoves an unwashed finger into the wound. He declares the bullet hit the liver but he is wrong. Eleven more doctors take turns probing with bare hands and dirty metal rods. They follow a false path. They miss the bullet completely.

They carry Garfield back to the White House on a mattress. Doctors turned a survivable wound into an 80-day death sentence. They probed with dirty fingers and unsterilized tools. They ignored Joseph Lister’s germ theory. They created a 20-inch tunnel of pus that eroded Garfield’s spine. 

Alexander Graham Bell brings his new induction balance. The device hums because of metal bed springs. Bliss refuses to move the president to a wooden cot. The bullet stays hidden.

Black surgeon Charles Purvis urges sterile technique. Bliss laughs him off and abscesses spread along Garfield’s spine. On September 6 they rush him to the Jersey Shore. Cool air helps for 48 hours but the Sepsis returns. Garfield dies at 10:35 pm on September 19.

Autopsy proves the bullet never touched a vital organ. It sat encased in a protective cyst. Dirty medical care alone caused death.

Episode 4 jumps to Guiteau’s trial. He dances in the dock and sells postcards of himself. He insists the doctors killed Garfield. The jury takes 40 minutes to convict. On June 30, 1882, he recites his poem “I am going to the Lordy, I am so glad” and drops through the trapdoor.

The show adds one fictional scene. Lucretia visits Guiteau in jail (this never happened). She confronts him about his legacy. In reality, Guiteau believed his memory would live forever. His brain ends up in a jar at the Mütter Museum.

Chester Arthur takes the oath at 2 am in his New York home. Garfield’s death breaks the machine politician. He signs the Pendleton Act in 1883. Federal jobs now require exams. The spoils system collapses. The finale ends at Garfield’s Ohio tomb. Lucretia places flowers. The series closes with Lucretia at the table Garfield built, surrounded by family, staring at his empty chair.

Death by Lightning Season 1 is streaming now only on Netflix. All four episodes are available.

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