Netflix’s new show “Death by Magic” is being launched globally on Nov. 30, TheWrap has learned exclusively.
The docuseries follows British magician Drummond Money-Coutts (a.k.a. DMC) on his mission to uncover the stories of magicians who died performing the most dangerous stunts ever attempted.
“Death by Magic” marks Los Angeles-based production company A. Smith & Co.’s first-ever project with Netflix, reuniting CEO Arthur Smith with Netflix’s vice president of Unscripted, Brandon Reigg. The pair formerly worked together on projects at NBC.
“DMC is a truly gifted magician whose mind-bending illusions mesmerize and confound people of all ages, cultures, and backgrounds,” Smith told TheWrap. “So we sent him out to shock the world in eight different cities across four continents with the most daring, unbelievable magic ever seen.”
“Netflix is the perfect partner to showcase this high stakes, death-defying series that will captivate a global audience,” he added.
“Beyond the beautiful magic, history and danger of the show — creating ‘Death by Magic’ has felt like a very personal eulogy to those magicians who gave their lives in the pursuit of the impossible,” DMC said. “It has been the greatest privilege of my life to honor and celebrate those men through this series.”
According to Netflix’s synopsis, “Death by Magic” sees DMC as he “travels the world to track down where the fatal performances took place and to work out exactly what went wrong, sharing his magic with the people he meets along the way. It’s a journey that spans four continents and eight cities around the world. His aim is to pay homage to the craft by creating his own updated versions of the stunts that cost these magicians their lives, from being buried alive under tons of wet concrete, to playing a game of Russian roulette, to escaping from a collision with a speeding steam train.
“The series will follow DMC as he recreates the stunts where others have failed, in the most extreme magic show ever attempted. To succeed he must avoid the fate that met those who came before him and paid the ultimate price: Death by Magic,” the streamer said.
Executive producers are Arthur Smith, Toby Gorman, Martin Turner and Simon Dinsell. Drummond Money-Coutts is also an executive producer on the project.
