„Edie Flowers“ is played by Uzo Aduba in the 2023 Netflix series „Painkiller.“ This raises a question:
Did Edie Flowers really exist? Who is Edie Flowers based on? Painkiller, Netflix 2023
Edie Flowers is a fictional person. She is not a real person. Her character is based on several investigators from the prosecutor’s office, journalists and government employees.
In the series „Painkiller,“ „Edie Flowers“ is a lawyer at the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Roanoke, Virginia.
In the story of the series „Painkiller“ Edie Flowers plays a central role. She is motivated by the drug deaths of her mother and her brother, who was imprisoned for drugs, to take action against OxyContin and Purdue Pharma.
Edie Flowers grew up during the crack epidemic in the U.S. (1980s to early 1990s) and has seen what drugs do to people and communities. She is not on a vendetta, however, but rather is seeking justice.
In the beginning, Edie Flowers feels like the audience. She doesn’t really know what’s going on. In a pharmacy, she is confronted with the reality of drug addiction for the first time. This experience leaves a mark on her and ensures that she continues to look into the matter.
Edie Flowers (Painkiller): More facts, info
Screenwriter, Noah Harpster, expressed that it is easier to invent a fictional person than to film the actions of a real person. Because with a real person, you always have to make sure that you stick to the truth and only show what really happened. But that’s not so easy. Because the past of a real person would have to be meticulously reconstructed in order to correspond to the truth.
The (new) boss of Edie Flowers, John Brownlee, is based on the eponymous person John L. Brownlee. He was the United States Attorney for the Western District of Virginia from 2001 to 2008.
Uzo Aduba also has a personal connection to the opioid crisis in the United States. The child of a close friend died from opioids.
The series „Painkiller“ is a film adaptation of the book „Pain Killer: An Empire of Deceit and the Origin of America’s Opioid Epidemic“ by Barry Meier.