Colin Firth is at the center of a murder mystery in first trailer for The Staircase

Mysteries are about to unravel in North Carolina. On Tuesday, HBO Max dropped the first teaser trailer for the upcoming limited series The Staircase along with the announcement of a premiere date.

According to a press release, The Staircase will premiere with three episodes on Thursday, May 5, followed by one episode weekly with the final episode airing June 9. Based on a true story, the crime drama will document the life of novelist Michael Peterson (Colin Firth), who was accused of murdering his wife Kathleen (Toni Collette) after she was found dead in their home.

"It's my life on the line and I want to tell my story. And I promise you, when we are on the other side of this, things will be better," Peterson tells his family during a dinner toast as the trailer intercuts between happy moments between the married couple and the media circus that unfolds after Kathleen's death.

Michael was convicted of killing Kathleen in 2003 but in 2017, he was freed after submitting an Alford plea to the reduced charge of manslaughter. A docuseries of the same name first aired on the Sundance Channel in 2005 and in 2012 and 2013, French filmmaker Jean-Xavier de Lestrade shot additional material for Netflix (where the series is available to stream in full.)

Created by Antonio Campos and executive-produced by showrunners Campos and Maggie Cohn, The Staircase also stars Michael Stuhlbarg, Juliette Binoche, Dane DeHaan, Olivia DeJonge, Rosemarie DeWitt, Tim Guinee, Patrick Schwarzenegger, Sophie Turner, Vincent Vermignon, Odessa Young, and Parker Posey.

Watch the trailer above.

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