The Netflix Making a Murderer train hasn’t slowed down one bit, each day bringing new updates and developments on the Steven Avery case from all sides, and Netflix may finally take heed.
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Making a Murderer is a 10-part series that follows Avery’s troubles with the law. The series has drawn the ire of Nancy Grace, who is convinced of Avery’s guilt.
“It just would have been impossible for us to include every piece of evidence that was submitted to the court”, said Ricciardi, explaining that she and Demos focused on the evidence the prosecution thought was the most compelling.
Speaking at the Television Critics Association press tour (via Variety), Netflix’s chief content officer Ted Sarandos told reporters that “the story is still unfolding, so we’ll certainly take a look at it”, although nothing had been put in writing.
While the directors wouldn’t confirm a second season, they have had several recorded conversations with Avery “with an eye toward future episodes”. She added that they have not yet returned to Wisconsin to film additional footage.
While it seems it’s hard to find someone who isn’t watching Making a Murderer, interestingly, Avery is not among them.
“The media are demonizing this man in order to prove his guilt”, Ricciardi said. The same thing happened to Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky, who created the “West Memphis Three” trilogy with people going out of their way to claim that Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jesse Misskelley Jr were guilty.
“Only in the fact that they were both high-profile cases but not beyond that”, Demos said.
Facing accusations that the series left out key evidence that may not support the narrative they were crafting, Ricciardi countered, “I would say that, and we’ve said this before, that this is a documentary…we do not set out to convict or exonerate anyone”.
The filmmakers “don’t have a stake in his innocence or guilt”, said Demos.
“We’re not prosecutors. We’re not defense attorneys”.
“We’re documentary filmmakers”, Ricciardi said of some of the blowback that has been received. “The answer is no”.
Though there has been no formal announcement of a season two from Netflix, Ricciardi and Demos are still documenting Avery’s case.
“I can’t say why Jodi is saying what she is in the media today”, Demos said, noting that the series gives an “accurate portrayal” of what Stachowski said she was feeling when they interviewed her nine years ago. “The problem is writ large across our country”. It’s muddied, they said, and they encourage people to embrace its ambiguity. Instead, “his focus is on the case”.
“It’s clear people were very affected”, she said.
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As for whether Avery has been able to watch the documentary that’s now dominating the cultural discussion, Ricciardi said that Avery had asked “the warden and his social worker if he’d be able to see it and his request was denied”. But we’re urging people to talk more deeply about how they can get involved.
