True crime and streaming television are both hot right now, and they’re about to meet.
Making a Murderer is a Netflix documentary series debuting Dec. 18, and centered on Steven Avery, a Wisconsin man exonerated by DNA evidence in 2003 after serving 18 years in prison on a rape conviction — but whose story took a horrific turn when he was accused of murder two years later.
The show is the latest in an old but suddenly burgeoning genre. The Serial podcast became a cultural phenomenon late last year with its investigation of the Adnan Syed/Hae Min Lee murder case, and it recently returned for a second season that focuses on Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, the U.S. soldier who left his post in Afghanistan and was held captive by the Taliban. Earlier this year, HBO’s The Jinx brought renewed attention to elusive real estate heir Robert Durst, who has been connected to three homicides but has never been convicted. And an upcoming FX series, American Crime Story, will tackle O.J. Simpson when it premieres on Feb. 2, 2016.
While Serial and The Jinx made us wait for each new installment, Making a Murderer arrives in true Netflix fashion: All 10 episodes will launch at once.
