Warning: Spoilers ahead for Murdaugh: Death in the Family.
Murdaugh: Death in the Family, a Hulu drama out Oct. 15, is inspired by the real story of one of South Carolina’s most influential personal injury lawyers, Alex Murdaugh, who was found guilty in 2023 for the murders of his wife Maggie and son Paul.
The series traces what was going on with the prominent Murdaugh family in the years before Alex was convicted of shooting and killing Maggie and Paul on their family farm in 2021 and found guilty of two counts of possession of a weapon during commission of a violent crime. At the time of his death, Paul was facing a criminal trial after his boat crashed in Beaufort, S.C., in 2019, killing classmate Mallory Beach. As Paul’s case was underway, several journalists started taking a closer look at the influential Murdaugh family and the personal injury law firm they operated, and found that Alex was stealing from clients and the practice.
The first three episodes, out Oct. 15, are centered around the fatal boat crash, and in episodes dropping weekly thereafter, viewers will see the Murdaughs’ world come crashing down, culminating in the creators’ interpretation of how Alex Murdaugh (Jason Clarke) might have murdered his wife (Patricia Arquette) and son (Johnny Berchtold) at the family’s kennels in Islandton, S.C.
The drama series is based on the Murdaugh Murders Podcast, co-created by journalist Mandy Matney, who also served as an executive producer on the Hulu show. TIME talked to Matney and showrunner Michael D. Fuller about what we know and still don’t know about the case.
The driver in the boat crash
The show depicts Paul as a black sheep of the family. His older brother jokes that he’s going to law school just so he can keep Paul out of trouble. It’s true that Paul was known for drinking heavily. Friends called him Timmy when he was drunk in a joke about how he would basically turn into a different person.
While Paul was killed before he could face…
