ALISON BOSHOFF: The truth is out there: X-Files progeny West Duchovny illuminates drug drama Painkiller

Watch out for newcomer West Duchovny – the 24-year-old daughter of actors David Duchovny and Tea Leoni – who is one of the innocents destroyed by opioids in the new TV drama Painkiller.

Matthew Broderick plays Purdue Pharma boss Richard Sackler; and Duchovny is silly and dangerous as Shannon Schaeffer, one of his ‘OxyContin Kittens’ whose job is to sell the dangerously addictive painkillers to doctors.

“You’re a drug dealer with a ponytail!” she is told at some point.

Producer Eric Newman describes Duchovny as “amazing,” adding, “She blew us away at her audition and is a bright light on our show.”

“Shannon is representative of the many nearby victims of OxyContin who have never used it, and I think that’s an important story to tell.

Father and daughter: West Duchovny pictured with her father David Duchovny

‘To get a good picture of the destructive power of opioids, you have to look beyond the number of deaths.

“You have to imagine not only all the people whose lives have been touched by those deaths, but also the many ignorant players who participated in the opioid machine and have to live with it.”

Painkiller is a fictionalized retelling of the invention of OxyContin and is now streaming on Netflix.

Set in the midst of the opioid crisis, the drama tells the story of the origins and consequences of the epidemic that has devastated hundreds of thousands of lives across America.

It also proposes again how Richard Sackler’s Purdue Pharma business boomed during the country’s opioid crisis – which continues to this day.

Purdue Pharma’s connection to the epidemic has been the subject of multiple lawsuits and fines, including being paid $600 million in 2007 after it pleaded guilty to misleading the public about OxyContin’s risk of addiction.

Painkiller was inspired for his plot by two texts, the book Pain Killer by Barry Meier, and an article in the New Yorker by Patrick Radden Keefe entitled The Family That Build an Empire of Pain, which was published in October 2017.

As a result, Meier is credited as a consulting producer, while Keefe is listed as an executive producer.

Rising Star: At 24 years old, West Duchovny is the show’s youngest main cast member, playing the newly hired saleswoman at Purdue, Shannon Schaeffer

Praise: Producer Eric Newman describes Duchovny as “amazing,” adding, “She blew us away during her audition and is a bright light on our show

Actress: Duchovny also starred in Saint X – another series that debuted in 2023

“The crisis wasn’t something that just happened like a hurricane or a flood,” Gibey says in the show’s press notes.

“It was something manufactured; manufactured by companies looking to make huge profits.

“I realized that this opioid crisis that I’ve been hearing so much about wasn’t just a crisis, it really was a crime,” producer Alex Gibey stated in the show’s press notes.