Streaming behemoth Netflix frequently receives potshots from other streaming companies, because that’s how it works when you’re king of the online content mountain. Nonetheless, it would take a particularly cracked mind to think that Netflix would ever want to have other services killed—even though it could probably get away with it. So we want to make sure you know the subscription streaming giant is only making a new documentary series called Making A Murderer.
Deriving from a 2005 news story, the series will focus on the tale of Steven Avery, a Wisconsin man convicted of rape only to be exonerated 18 years later by DNA evidence. As the press release describes, “His release triggered major criminal justice reform legislation, and he filed a lawsuit that threatened to expose corruption in local law enforcement and award him millions of dollars. But in the midst of his very public civil case, he suddenly finds himself the prime suspect in a grisly new crime.” Directors Laura Ricciardi and Moira Demos spent most of the past decade covering this story, and it sounds like there will be some amazing fly-on-the-wall-style capturing of events as they unfolded.
Of course, if you want to skip all that, you can type Avery’s name into Google and learn what happened in a matter of minutes. But there’s more to the story than just the outcome, obviously, and the docuseries promises to examine “what went wrong in the first case and question whether scientific advances and legislative reforms over the past three decades have gotten us any closer to delivering truth and justice in the system.” The first two episodes of Making A Murderer will premiere at the DOC NYC film festival on November 13, with the series making its Netflix debut on December 18. In other words, just in time for you to spend Christmas binge-watching a ten-part series about horrifying crimes—which, let’s be honest, you were planning to do anyway, but now you’ve got an alternative to those SVU reruns.