@joelkeller Published Aug. 27, 2026, 12:54 p.m. ET
Add Decider on Google Where to Stream: Death Of The Pastor's Wife Powered by Reelgood More On: true crime The Top 10 Movies On Netflix That Are Most Popular Right Now The Top 10 Shows On Netflix That Are Most Popular Right Now Is ‘Facing El Chapo’ Based On A True Story? Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Chompoo: Lost and Forgotten’ on Netflix, a Bizarre True Crime Doc About the Suspect in a Child Homicide Becoming a Media Celebrity Death Of The Pastor’s Wife is a three-part Netflix docuseries, directed by Michael Gasparo and Julia Willoughby Nason, about the 2024 death of Mica Miller and the months leading up to her supposed suicide. Family members and friends are interviewed and talk about Miller’s marriage to John-Paul Miller, the pastor of Solid Rock Church in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. JP, as he’s known by, married the young parishioner after having an affair with her while married to his first wife, and he controlled and stalked her throughout that marriage.
Opening Shot: An overhead shot of a parking lot near a wooded area. A 911 call plays; in it Mica Miller calmly asks the dispatcher to locate her cell phone, saying that she’s going to kill herself and she wants people to know where to find her.
The Gist: The series starts off with four of Mica’s brothers and sisters (she’s one of six) talking about how they found their way to the Solid Rock Church in 2007, when Mica was 13. She got married to her first husband, a fellow member of the church, at 18, but that fell apart after her affair with JP, who was 15 years older, was discovered.
When the affair became public, it took a lot of effort for JP to win back the trust of the church’s members, and the relationship with Mica showed how controlling he was and that the axiom “once a cheater, always a cheater” held true. Mica was immediately shown proof that he was cheating on her, but she stayed with him. Then, he persuaded her to get breast augmentation surgery, and attributed the manic episode she had afterwards to a bad reaction to anesthesia, not the stress that his affair and controlling nature might have triggered.
They got married soon after her release, and Mica spent her time becoming the church leader she envisioned herself to be. But as JP continued to be controlling, their marriage crumbled.
What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Death Of The Pastor’s Wife has a similar feel to the docuseries Betrayal: The Perfect Husband.
Our Take: The narrative of Death Of The Pastor’s Wife doesn’t pull any punches when it comes to John-Paul Miller’s role in the death of Mica Miller. While they don’t go so far as to say that he murdered her — though some of the friends and family interviewed imply that — they make the case that his controlling nature, penchant to stray, irrational jealousy, and ability to make people fear for their lives certainly led to Mica’s death.
While the Solid Rock Church looks like a “modern” church that does things like changing the lyrics to pop songs to make them more Jesus-y, and John-Paul Miller is portrayed as an effortlessly charming and talented pastor, there is still a heavy element of faith and devotion to Christ among its parishioners. Mica Miller’s unwavering faith, at least as portrayed by her family members, is likely what drew her into JP Miller’s orbit.
But the docuseries is also a damning narrative about how people like JP Miller become religious leaders despite their moral and emotional dark sides. There’s a huge element of ego and narcissism involved, and the clips of his sermons, where he emphasizes that it’s a wife’s role to be sexually available to their husbands in order to stave off temptation, bring that out.
Miller is awaiting trial on federal charges of cyberstalking Mica and making false statements, and there is very little evidence that the directors are going to present anyone supporting whatever his version of the events leading up to Mica’s death is. In the case of how the end of their marriage played out, though, there might not be much of a defense for his actions.
Performance Worth Watching: Pretty much all of Mica Miller’s siblings offer some damning testimony of what they thought of John-Paul Miller and how he essentially groomed Mica into committing to a doomed relationship and marriage.
Sex And Skin: A church friend of Mica’s says that Mica told her that had sex with John-Paul four times a day in order to keep him from cheating. Yowza.
Parting Shot: We see texts from John-Paul threatening Mica, who was with one of her sisters after a dispute ginned up by John-Paul. There is a reenactment of JP driving to Mica’s sister’s house, a gun on the dashboard.
Sleeper Star: No one in particular stands out, other than Mica’s siblings.
Most Pilot-y Line: This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but holy hell, the people in this church have a lot of tattoos!
Our Call: STREAM IT. Death Of The Pastor’s Wife is a harrowing but riveting story of infidelity, control and obsession hiding behind a curtain of faith and devotion to Jesus.
Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.
