Netflix’s upcoming psychological thriller The Good Nurse tells the true story of Charles Cullen, a nurse and convicted serial killer who confessed to murdering up t0 40 patients, but there could be hundreds more victims, in New Jersey across his 16-year career – and continues a deluge of true crime content from the platform.
Based on Charles Graeber’s 2013 book The Good Nurse: A True Story of Medicine, Madness, and Murder, and helmed by Danish filmmaker Tobias Lindholm, the film explores the great lengths fellow nurse Amy Loughren (Jessica Chastaine) went to in order to catch Cullen (Eddie Redmayne), as well as the system that allowed his crimes to slip through the net for so long.
And it’s this, according to director Lindholm, that sets The Good Nurse apart from other serial killer movies on Netflix.
“When I read the book, I realised that it wasn’t just another serial-killer movie,” Lindholm told Vanity Fair. “It was a portrayal of a system that didn’t stop the serial killer, and the nurse who did.”
Talking about some of the challenges focusing on this angle came with, he added: “We had to remind ourselves that everybody was human at any given point, and we did not want to be fascinated with the crimes.
“I think that was the most difficult part, to maintain the thriller aspect and make it entertaining and thrilling and, at the same time, truthful and human.”
Read on for everything you need to know about The Good Nurse.
The Good Nurse Netflix release date
![""]("https://images.immediate.co.uk/production/volatile/sites/3/2022/09/The-Good-Nurse-Film-53562fa.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C413" "\"\"")
The Good Nurse is scheduled to premiere in cinemas on 19th October 2022.
Those with a Netflix subscription will be able to access the movie on the service a week later, from 26th October.
The movie will first screen at the Toronto International Film Festival in September, before showing at the BFI London Film Festival 2022 on 10th October.
The Good Nurse plot
The official Netflix synopsis reads: “Suspicious that her colleague is responsible for a series of mysterious patient deaths, a nurse risks her own life to uncover the truth.”
And the recent trailer gave us a few more clues. It showed the authorities asking Amy to take a look at the files of an old woman named Ana Martinez, only for Amy to discover that she had a rare level of insulin in her blood at the time of her death.
When another woman meets the same fate, Amy begins to suspect Charles could be involved and sets about tracking down his former colleagues.
Sure enough, it turns out he’s worked at nine hospitals, jumping from one to the next whenever the other nurses begin growing suspicious. But will Amy be able to stop him from moving on to number 10?
Is there a trailer for The Good Nurse?
Yes, and it will give you chills.
“Work has been pretty awful without you there. You and I were partners,” Amy opens the trailer with as Charles sits down next to her.
“I don’t want to talk about work,” he says abruptly.
“Is it because what they’re saying is true?” Amy asks, to which Charles responds with a chilling glare. Eek.
Who’s in the cast of The Good Nurse?
![""]("https://images.immediate.co.uk/production/volatile/sites/3/2021/12/fantastic-beasts-eddie-redmayne-2a9bb9b-e1662652997154.jpg?quality=90&resize=619%2C413" "\"\"")
Eddie Redmayne (The Theory of Everything, The Trial of the Chicago 7) will portray Charles Cullen, while Jessica Chastain (The Eyes of Tammy Faye, Zero Dark Thirty) stars as nurse and single mother Amy Loughren.
Talking about the processes he underwent to play the role, Redmayne told Vanity Fair: “From an actor’s point of view, [it was about] trying to interrogate why — why this person did what he did, with the acknowledgement that you were never going to find that answer.”
He added: “But the interrogation of it was pretty intriguing.”
The cast of The Good Nurse is rounded out by Kim Dickens (Gone Girl, Fear the Walking Dead), Noah Emmerich (The Americans, The Truman Show) and Nnamdi Asomugha (Hello, My Name Is Doris, Crown Heights).
The Good Nurse will premiere in cinemas on 19th October 2022 and be available to watch on Netflix on 26th October. Sign up for Netflix from £6.99 a month. Netflix is also available on Sky Glass and Virgin Media Stream.
Looking for something else to watch? Check out our TV Guide or visit our dedicated Movies hub for the latest news.
The latest issue of Radio Times magazine is on sale now – subscribe now and get the next 12 issues for only £1. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to the Radio Times podcast with Jane Garvey.