According to a press release, Painkiller is a scripted drama that covers the origins of the opioid crisis. The six-episode series was directed by Friday Night Lights director Peter Berg. “I am really charged to be a part of such an in-depth exploration of the genesis of the opioid travesty,” Peter said. “Companies that profit off of death and addiction are fair game to me when it comes to illuminating the realities of how they go about their business.”

If you happened to watch the documentary series The Pharmacist (also on Netflix), then you already know a little bit about the American opioid crisis story. The Pharmacist tells the story of small-town pharmacist Dan Schneider, who began to notice more and more young people come into his pharmacy with prescriptions for “high-powered” opioids like OxyContin. 

Schneider became one of the first people to expose the drug companies behind the crisis — and Painkiller tells the story from the other side, revealing more about the inner workings of the doctors, government officials, and drug companies who conspired to engineer the crisis in order to profit.

While Painkiller is based on real events, some characters and details included in the series are fictionalized for dramatic purposes.