HBO Max’s ‘Staircase’ series: What to expect vs. the Netflix version, and how to watch

After two-and-a-half years of waiting, the HBO Max series about the death of Kathleen Peterson and the Durham murder trial of her husband, Michael Peterson, is about to land.

The stunning limited series, “The Staircase,” is based on the 13-part Netflix documentary series of the same name, and stars Academy Award-winning British actor Colin Firth as Michael Peterson and Academy Award-nominated Australian actress Toni Collette as Kathleen Peterson.

Here’s what you need to know about the series ahead of its Thursday premiere.

Episodes won’t all release at the same time

As much as you may want to, there will be no binging of the eight-episode limited series — at least not for those who want to start watching it right away.

HBO Max will release the first three episodes of “The Staircase” on Thursday, May 5, with new episodes released each Thursday through June 9.

HBO Max is the streaming service owned by Warner Bros. “The Staircase” will not air on the HBO cable channel, but if you pay for HBO on cable, you likely have access to HBO Max (use your same log-in info).

How much does HBO Max cost? A subscription tto he HBO streaming site HBO Max costs $9.99 per month with commercials and $14.99 per month commercial-free. The commercial-free version is 4K HDR. You can pay for a full year upfront and get a discount, paying $99.99 or $149.99 for the year.

How to watch HBO Max: Download the HBO Max app and sign in with your HBO Max, HBO or HBO Now ID and password. You can watch on iPhone and Android devices, Apple and Samsung TVs, Roku, Amazon Fire Stick, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One consoles, Chromecast and Chromebooks, and laptops and PCS. For more information and to sign up, go to hbomax.com.

HBO’s ‘Staircase’ vs. Netflix’s ‘Staircase’

The HBO Max series is based on the Netflix series, which was directed by French filmmaker Jean-Xavier de Lestrade — but it’s much more than just a straight dramatization of that series.

It’s also important to remember that this is a dramatization, which means writers can take liberties with details.

▪ The drama series uses additional source materials. The new drama series was created, produced, written and directed by Antonio Campos, with Maggie Cohn joining Campos as a showrunner. Campos used other reports and books about the case to build his script, in addition to the material in the documentary series. Michael Peterson has previously stated that the writers of the HBO series had access to his self-published memoirs, in which he wrote about his relationship with Kathleen and about his time in prison. Others connected to the case were also independently consulted.

▪ The documentary becomes part of the story. De Lestrade’s documentary film crew embedded with Peterson and his defense team, and followed the trial and its aftermath. During that process, many in the crew grew close to Peterson and his family. Campos makes de Lestrade — plus the documentary’s producer, Denis Poncet, and its editor, Sophie Brunet — a significant part of the story, and the result is a richer, more compelling narrative. For example, in Episode 1, we see Poncet pitch the Peterson story to a clearly skeptical de Lestrade as their next project, and later we see Poncet and de Lestrade work to convince Peterson and his attorney, David Rudolf, to give them full access. Later, we see Poncet and de Lestrade clash over philosophical differences in the approach to the editing of the series, which gives the viewer important context for the documentary.

▪ We get more Kathleen Peterson. One of the best things about the HBO series is that viewers will get a much fuller sense of Kathleen Peterson — her personality, her relationships, her work life and the pressures she felt in the months before her death. Collette does an excellent job portraying Kathleen as a strong woman close to a breaking point.

▪ We get more family, in general. Campos’ version puts more emphasis on the children — Clayton and Todd Peterson, Margaret and Martha Ratliff, and Caitlin Atwater — showing how traumatizing all of this was for them, from the death of Kathleen to the trial and beyond. It’s a sobering reminder of the damage done to families in the wake of a tragic death and the intense media scrutiny that accompanies cases that get this big.

▪ HBO’s ‘Staircase’ is more graphic. There’s much more sex in the HBO version. For example, the documentary series talks about affairs and pornography, and HBO shows it. Because it’s HBO. Also, the blood and violence is more graphic in this version. In real life, Kathleen Peterson bled to death at the bottom of the back staircase in the couple’s Durham home, and there are three main theories as to how her injuries occurred. Campos illustrates each scenario in horror movie-style detail. But it doesn’t feel gratuitous — the death scenes are hard to watch, but seem important for understanding the brutality of Kathleen Peterson’s death, no matter how it occurred.

What did HBO’s version leave out?

Fans of the Netflix documentary series may watch the new HBO series waiting for some memorable moments, but not all of them will be there. It’s understandable — with so much extra material, something had to go. (And all the extra material is so great, we can’t fault Campos for the tough cuts he had to make.)

Here are a few moments that didn’t show up in the HBO Max series:

▪ The PowerPoint scene. You know the one. Defense attorney David Rudolf is practicing his opening statement the night before the trial begins, with the help of a man tasked with running Rudolf’s Powerpoint presentation. There’s one technical glitch after another, interspersed with various interruptions by a ringing cell phone and various courthouse personnel. Finally, Rudolf screams, “This system sucks!” (followed by some other language we can’t print here) and slams a chair on the floor.

▪ Patty Peterson in Germany. We wanted more Patricia Peterson just in general, but we particularly missed Rudolf’s trip to Germany to see the home where family friend Elizabeth Ratliff died in 1985. This is where we meet Michael’s first wife and get her wonderful explanation of their life in Germany and their frequent use of automobiles to run errands.

▪ Brad from Raleigh testifies. We do see prosecutor Freda Black interview male escort Brent Wolgamott (aka Brad from Raleigh) in the HBO show, but we don’t get his testimony, which included a funny exchange with Judge Orlando Hudson. That was gold.

▪ Get your affairs in order. We also didn’t get the scene the night before the jury verdict in which Michael’s brother Bill Peterson takes him aside and tells him that he should be prepared to not come home the next day. It was a sobering moment.

Photo gallery: Comparing HBO’s ‘The Staircase’ cast to those they portray

What about the cast of HBO’s ‘Staircase’?

The casting of HBO Max’s dramatic series is exceptional, even in roles filled by lesser-known actors. Two writers at The News & Observer and one at the Charlotte Observer watched the first five episodes of the series provided by HBO, and here are a few quick thoughts on the cast. (Also, kudos to the wardrobe department.)

▪ Colin Firth’s physical resemblance to Michael Peterson isn’t there (Firth literally towers over the actor playing David Rudolf), but he has the voice, the mannerisms and the bravado down. Throw in a pipe and a baggy sweatshirt, and it’s pretty convincing. Firth has said that he didn’t talk to Peterson in preparing for the role, but it’s clear he studied the game film. Excellent work.

▪ Toni Collette, as we mentioned before, is amazing as Kathleen Peterson. We feel her stress and exhaustion every time she’s on the screen.

▪ Parker Posey found the absolute perfect balance of showing Freda Black as a character without turning her into a cartoon character. Couldn’t love her more.

▪ Cullen Moss essentially becomes District Attorney Jim Hardin, known for his calm demeanor and low, deliberate cadence. At times you can forget it’s not actually Hardin on screen (except for the aggressive eyebrows, one writer here noted).

▪ Sophie Turner and Odessa Young, playing Margaret and Martha Ratliff, respectively, are perfect as the young wards of Peterson. Patrick Schwarzenegger and Dane DeHaan (a UNC School of the Arts grad) as Todd and Clayton Peterson, plus Olivia DeJonge as Caitlin Atwater — are all great in tough roles. These kids were broken (maybe even before Kathleen’s death) and the portrayals are strong, but sympathetic.

▪ Juliette Binoche, as French documentary film editor Sophie Brunet, is one of the A-listers here, but we don’t get much of her until Episodes 4 and 5 (Episode 5 is as far as we’ve seen, as of May 5). We didn’t get to know Brunet from the Netflix documentary, so we can’t say if her performance is accurate. But who doesn’t love watching Binoche on screen?

▪ No major qualms with Michael Stuhlbarg’s performance, but we all agreed that he definitely gives us the “softer side of David Rudolf” in portraying Peterson’s defense attorney. Where’s the bluster? The sarcasm? The aura of perpetual irritation?

▪ Tim Guinee plays Michael’s mild-mannered brother Bill Peterson with a sort of baffled affect — like he’s always thinking, “How did I end up in the middle of this circus?” Loved him.

▪ We also love Trini Alvarado as Michael’s first wife, Patricia Peterson. Our only complaint about any of this is that we wanted more.

▪ We hope Rosemarie DeWitt, who plays Kathleen’s outspoken sister Candace Hunt Zamperini, gets her Alford plea rant moment. It will be great for DeWitt’s reel.

▪ We also hope to see more in later episodes of Myke Holmes, a UNC-Wilmington theater school graduate who plays SBI agent and blood spatter “expert” Duane Deaver. One of the best moments of the series is the use of the 1968 Bee Gees song “I Started a Joke” while Deaver is shown bashing fake mannequin heads with a blow poke.

▪ It threw us a little that Robert Crayton plays Rudolf’s investigator Ron Guerette. Undoubtedly the move was made to add some racial diversity to the cast, which was needed (the same is done for the casting of Vincent Vermingnon as “Staircase” director Jean-Xavier de Lestrade), but Guerette was such a made-for-TV character in real life, and that is lost in the HBO series.

▪ And finally, Joel McKinnon Miller, who many of us know as Scully from “Brooklyn Nine-Nine,” plays Peterson friend and neighbor Larry Pollard — who many of us know as the author of The Owl Theory. Pollard becomes more of a character toward the end of Episode 5, but we know good things are coming.