TV & Movies
Is Glen Kryger From Painkiller Based On A Real Person?
Taylor Kitsch said playing Glen was the “most fulfilling job [he’d] ever done.”
Netflix’s new series Painkiller explores the rise of OxyContin and America’s opioid crisis, so it naturally devotes much focus to the Sackler family: owners of the company that manufactured the drug beginning in 1996. But it also depicts fictional versions of the individuals, families, and communities most affected by the opioid epidemic — such as the character of Glen Kryger.
Glen shares a family with his wife, Lily, and works as the owner of a tire shop. After injuring his back in a workplace accident, Glen’s doctor prescribes OxyContin for persistent pain. However, he soon develops a substance use disorder that permanently impacts him and his family. All the while, Painkiller intercuts his experience with depictions of Purdue Pharma’s exponential success. It’s the “horrible contradictory idea” at the heart of the show, executive producer Eric Newman told Netflix.
“These things were killing just as many people and wrecking just as many lives, and the players were just as nefarious,” he continued. “But because it was legal, it was just a healthcare crisis. Unlike drug traffickers who are never dishonest about who they are and what they do, this group pretends to care about the welfare of human beings.”
According to the streamer, Glen is a “wholly fictional character.” But as the spoken disclaimers at the start of every episode remind us, there are countless real-life people just like Glen affected by the opioid crisis.
Taylor Kitsch, who plays Glen, knows that well. As he told Esquire last year, he cared for someone close to him that struggled with opioid and amphetamine misuse — and went to “hell and back 17 times” with them. (That person is now sober, he shared.)
In addition to remembering that experience, Kitsch worked to make his portrayal more authentic by working with an advisor and sending producers notes. As an actor, he told the magazine, it was the “most fulfilling job [he’d] ever done.”
Similarly, director and executive producer Peter Berg told Rotten Tomatoes that there have been “tens of thousands of Glens” over the history of the opioid crisis. “So when people say, ‘Is Glen a composite character?’ I say, ‘Kind of yes and no.’ I’ve known Glens. I’m sure you’ve known Glens or if you don’t know them personally, you know someone that does.”
If you or someone you know is seeking help for substance use, call the SAMHSA National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).
