Note: Though Painkiller shares the story of the real Sackler family, Screen Rant was asked to clarify that events in Netflix's series were fictionalized.
Uzo Aduba stars in Painkiller, a fictional Netflix show inspired by the opioid crisis, and some wonder if Aduba's character, Edie Flowers, is based on a real person or is entirely fictional. The Netflix limited series centers around Edie, an investigator with the United States Attorney's Office tasked with looking into Purdue Pharma and the company's manufactured drug, OxyContin. The story is based on Barry Meier's 2003 non-fiction book Pain Killer and Patrick Radden Keefe's 2017 New Yorker article "The Family That Built an Empire of Pain." But as the opening minutes of Painkiller reveal, some of the names, characters, and incidents were "fictionalized for dramatic purposes."
Aside from Aduba as Edie, the rest of the cast includes Matthew Broderick as Richard Sackler, John Rothman as Mortimer Sackler, Sam Anderson as Raymond Sackler, Clark Gregg as Arthur Sackler, Taylor Kitsch as Glen Kryger, Carolina Bartczak as Lily Kryger, West Duchovny as Shannon Schaeffer, Dina Shihabi as Britt, and Noah Harpster as Dr. Curtis Wright. Many of these character names are the names of actual people, like Broderick's Richard Sackler, who was the chairperson and president of Purdue Pharma when the company came under fire during the opioid crisis. However, some characters were purely fictional.
Edie Flowers Is Fictional, But She's Based On Various Real Investigators
Uzo Aduba's Edie Flowers is a fictional character that the Painkiller writers created solely for the purposes of the Netflix television show. But even though Edie is not an actual person, she is a composite character based on numerous professionals who investigated Purdue Pharma and the manufacturing of OxyContin. The creators of the drama limited series were inspired by multiple investigators to create Edie, as Aduba points out in an interview with Netflix's Tudum:
"The world of Edie Flowers, who is a fictitious person — but is a composite of a number of investigators, runs alongside the very real Richard Sackler. Having those points of intersection where the two worlds come together was incredibly impactful and powerful."
Why Painkiller Pits The Fictional Edie Flowers Against Real-Life Pharmaceutical Tycoon Richard Sackler
Uzo Aduba's Edie Flowers goes head-to-head against Matthew Broderick's Richard Sackler in the fictional six-episode Netflix limited series. Sackler, the person in charge at Purdue Pharma, was one of the key people involved with the development of OxyContin, which many soon discovered was a very addictive painkiller. So it was up to Edie to take Sackler down and prove that his company should be held accountable for the opioid crisis and the deaths of those who became addicted to OxyContin.
However, in real life, various investigators worked the case against Sackler. Many people were to thank for their efforts to expose the truth behind Purdue Pharma and OxyContin. But for the sake of their story, the creators of Painkiller needed to ensure that the hero of the television series had one singular face, and that is where Aduba as Edie came in.
Source: Netflix's Tudum