Netflix's Latest Murdaugh Murders Exposé Has Viewers Tuning In
Netflix sure owes a lot to horrific crimes being committed. The streaming service has had massive hits with such true crime documentaries as the truly harrowing "American Murder: The Family Next Door," "The Staircase," and the original Netflix crime doc phenomenon "Making a Murderer." The list of Netflix true crime documentaries is seemingly endless, and it's only growing year after year as our obsession with real-life acts of shocking barbarity shows no signs of abating.
Earlier this year the cinematic true crime series "Missing: Dead or Alive?" found its way into the Netflix Top 10. But that wasn't the first true crime hit for Netflix this year. That honor belongs to "Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal." Across three episodes, the series laid out the events surrounding the downfall of prominent South Carolina attorney Alex Murdaugh, who in 2023 was convicted of murdering his wife, Maggie, and son, Paul. From directors Jenner Furst and Julia Willoughby Nason, the duo behind 2019's "Fyre Fraud," the docuseries draws on the work of investigative journalist Mandy Matney and her podcast, "Murdaugh Murders."
As Willoughby Nason told The Hollywood Reporter, "This is not just a true-crime story — it's showing all these structures of power at play." Telling such a complex and multi-layered story across three episodes wouldn't have done justice to the subject matter. What's more, things were still developing as the series was in production, with Alex Murdaugh being found guilty of murdering his wife and son on March 2, 2023 — eight days after the show premiered on Netflix.
As such, the streamer has now rolled out a further three episodes, which it's referring to as "season 2". And it looks as though viewers were very much ready for more.
Season 2 is a hit
In the age of streaming, there are plenty of needlessly long series designed to cater to our insatiable appetite for binge-watching, regardless of whether a story justifies it or not. But this seems to be one of those times when the story very much justified more episodes. Season 1 of "Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal" covered things up until the trial of Alex Murdaugh. Season 2 revisits the lead-up to the 2021 murder of Maggie and Paul Murdaugh, providing more insights and details about the circumstances surrounding their deaths. The new episodes also focus on the time between Maggie and Paul's murders and Alex Murdaugh's conviction, recounting the disgraced lawyer's trial and his ultimate sentencing to life in prison.
All of which apparently makes for irresistible watching. At the time of writing, "Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal" is sitting at number one for TV series on the Netflix homepage. The latest three episodes debuted on September 20, and the following day the show hit the top spot, suggesting our appetite for true crime remains insatiable, or at least that the Murdaugh story managed to grip viewers enough the first time around they came flocking back for round two.
It's worth noting that Netflix's viewership metrics are dodgy at best, so who knows who's actually watching this show or how long they're sticking with it. But considering the interest in this case and the ongoing popularity of true crime documentaries, it's not surprising to see the show back at the top of the Netflix charts.