Is Glen Kryger from Netflix’s Painkiller based on a real person? We discuss the 2023 Netflix series, which contains spoilers.
Big Pharma has a lot to answer for.
If you are of a certain mindset, I have no doubt that you will be aware of the allegations made against pharmaceutical companies, their incredible reach and power, and the various invested parties that are allegedly connected to such companies that work to keep them engaged.
You can easily fall down various online rabbit holes while doing a bit of research into these companies, and depending on who you are, it can be unsettling and disturbing.
One of the most well-known instances involves Purdue Pharma and the Sackler Family that runs it.
The 2023 Netflix drama Painkiller gives an account of the activities of Purdue Pharma and its relentless endeavors to push OxyContin onto doctors, and their patients, resulting in the company becoming a global force.
The company and its employees would be financially rewarded for pushing the drug, and it explores the Sackler family, who were behind the curtain manipulating the events.
READ: TV Shows like Painkiller
Promises that the drug was not addictive led to what has been described as an opioid crisis, and the series explores the story of Glen Kryger, who, over the course of the show, slowly slips into a nightmare of addiction through the use of the drug.
You can read everything that you will need to know about the show right here on Ready Steady Cut, and this accompanying article is going to answer the question: Is Glen Kryger from Netflix’s Painkiller based on a real person?
Who is Glen Kryger from Netflix’s Painkiller, and why is he important?
Glen is an everyday family man in the show, with a wife and kids, working to make ends meet. However, his life is tragically changed when an accidental fall from a bulldozer injures him terribly. Unable to walk, he is rushed to the hospital and operated on. In his recovery, the pain from the event was too much, and he is prescribed OxyContin to help deal with it.
The drug helps him with pain relief, and it is here that we start to see what the drug is capable of doing and the effect that it could have on people.
Through Glen, we see how OxyContin was used and its devastating effects.
He is the character that takes the viewer through the nightmare of opioid addiction.
Is Glen Kryger from Netflix’s Painkiller based on a real person?
No, the character and his family are fictional, written for the show.
However, Glen is an avatar used to represent everybody who has used and become addicted to OxyContin.
Although he is fictional, he represents the real people who were in similar situations to him, and his story no doubt resonated with anyone who had experienced pain and was prescribed OxyContin.
Who plays Glen Kryger in Painkiller?
Glen is played by actor Taylor Kitsch. You may have seen Taylor in many other movies, as he has had a long career.
Here are some of his most memorable roles.
In X-Men Origins: Wolverine, he played Remy way back in 2009. Shortly after, he would go on to play Kevin in The Big Bang Club.
Taylor also starred in TV, and many of you will know him as Tim in Friday Night Lights.
A real shot at Hollywood franchise superstardom would come in 2012 when he landed the lead role in John Carter, but the film was dogged with production disasters, and it flopped horribly at the box office, leaving Disney dismayed and destroying any chance of a franchise.
Taylor just got on with things, though, appearing in other films, including Battleship and Savages.
More TV would arrive in 2015, with a role in the excellent True Detective, and in 2018, he would play David Koresh in the chilling mini-series Waco.
