I Loved Death By Lightning, And There Is An Amazing Follow-Up Opportunity

Before Death by Lightning dropped on Netflix’s 2025 schedule, I wrote about how excited I was to see one of history’s great “what ifs” play out in the miniseries. The assassination of President James A. Garfield (played by Michael Shannon in the show) just a few months into his first term in 1881 meant we’d never know what kind of president the man from Ohio would be, but it held a lot of promise. The show did not disappoint, and if you’ve not seen it yet, I highly recommend checking it out.

In the series, we are treated to a very brief moment that introduces Robert Todd Lincoln (Kyle Soller, of Andor fame), the son of President Abraham Lincoln. He’s not a pivotal figure in the show, but in real life, he was around for some of the most pivotal moments in United States history. Given the success of Death by Lightning, I propose that Netflix consider a follow-up about his incredible life.

Robert Todd Lincoln Was Connected To Three Presidential Assassinations

In the 250 years or so of U.S. history, four presidents have been killed while in office. The first, of course, was Abraham Lincoln, less than a month after his second inauguration, and mere days after the Confederates surrendered at Appomattox, to end the Civil War. April 15th, 1865, was a dark day in history when John Wilkes Booth shot and killed the Great Emancipator at Ford’s Theater.

Robert Todd Lincoln, just 21 years old at the time, had declined an invitation to attend the play with his parents and stayed back at the White House. He was blocks away when his father was shot, and he helped his mother in the aftermath as she prepared to leave the White House. That would only be the first time he found himself in close proximity to a dead president.

15 years later, Lincoln was named Secretary of War by President Garfield and, as portrayed in Death by Lightning, was with the President at the train station when he was shot by Charles Guiteau (played brilliantly by Matthew Macfadyen in the show). Lincoln was right next to the second president assassinated in U.S. history, but it doesn’t end there.

20 years later, Lincoln, by then a private citizen and president of the Pullman Company, was outside the building at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York, where President William McKinley was assassinated by Leon Czolgosz. In just over 35 years, three presidents had been murdered, and Lincoln had a close connection to all three. Unsurprisingly, he avoided meeting with any future presidents until his death in 1926.

It’s Not Just Assassinations, However

Robert Todd Lincoln’s legacy is not just connected to the untimely deaths of presidents, however. As a young member of General Ulysses S. Grant's staff towards the end of the Civil War, Lincoln was present at the courthouse at Appomattox when General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Grant in March 1865. By the way, I’m still waiting for a great biopic about Grant.

In another bizarre coincidence in Lincoln’s life, two or three years before his father (the date is unknown) was killed by John Wilkes Booth, he stumbled in a train station and fell onto the tracks in front of an oncoming train. He was pulled to safety by one of the most famous actors of the era, Edwin Booth, the brother of the man who would become Lincoln’s father’s assassin.

Death by Lightning is one of my favorite shows on the 2025 TV schedule. I can’t think of anything better to use my Netflix subscription for than to watch a similar miniseries about a lesser-known, but wildly interesting figure in American history, like Robert Todd Lincoln.