Adam McKay’s Hyperobject Industries and Sony Music Entertainment Announce Death on the Lot, New Podcast About Untimely Deaths of Trailblazing 1940s and 1950s Actors

Trailer is Available Now

Academy Award-winner Adam McKay’s Hyperobject Industries and Sony Music Entertainment today announced Death on the Lot, a new eight-episode podcast series that will spotlight the untimely deaths of the biggest stars in 1940s and 1950s Hollywood, launching Thursday, June 1. Developed and hosted by McKay, Death on the Lot will dive into the cultural transformation of Post-war America and Hollywood’s fabrication of a new American dream, as well as Hollywood unions and labor strikes. The trailer is available now and all eight episodes will be available on The Binge on June 1. 

In each episode, McKay will focus on the story behind one celebrity’s tragic death and the cultural implications that upended their life. The podcast will cover the deaths of gangster Willie Bioff, method actor John Garfield, teenage idol James Dean, Superman actor George Reeves, first Black Academy Award winner Hattie McDaniel, swashbuckling star Errol Flynn, and western legend John Wayne. Death on the Lot will also provide an overarching view of the transformation of the U.S. following World War II, as well as a divide the country faced between the rising right wing seeking to create conformity and fear and the left wing fighting for Civil Rights.

In reporting the series, McKay and team conducted interviews with experts, journalists and Hollywood insiders, including director Ron Howard; actor James Cromwell; Academy Award-winning actress Lee Grant; cultural critic and historian Isaac Butler; Hattie McDaniel’s great grand-nephew Kevin Goff; Sidney Poitier’s daughter Sydney Poitier Heartsong; and Errol Flynn’s daughter Rory Flynn and grandson and child star Sean Flynn. 

Adam McKay says “The first season of “Death at the Wing” was one of the most satisfying and fascinating projects I’ve ever personally been a part of. It combined a real life murder mystery, history and incredible personal stories to paint a truly unique portrait of the 1980’s. Now we’re looking at the 40’s and 50’s through the lens of a spate of tragic and bizarre deaths in Hollywood.”

Death on the Lot is a follow-up to McKay’s acclaimed podcast “Death at the Wing,” which focuses on the tragic intersection of basketball, politics, and socioeconomics in the 1980s that led to an extraordinary number of deaths of rising basketball prospects. 

The series is executive produced by Adam McKay, Hyperobject Industries Clare Slaughter and Harry Nelson, and Jody Avirgan of Roulette Productions, who also serves as series editor. Brian Steele and Hadley Meares are writers on the series, which they completed writing on earlier this year.

All episodes of Death on the Lot will be available to subscribers of The Binge on June 1. Listeners can subscribe to Death on the Lot for new weekly episodes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher and wherever you listen to your podcasts. For more information on Death on the Lot follow @SonyPodcasts on Twitter and Instagram.