Posted in: Hulu, TV | Tagged: Murdaugh: Death in the Family

Murdaugh Showrunner on Expanding Beyond Podcast Narratives, Trial

Showrunner Michael D. Fuller discusses Hulu's Murdaugh: Death in the Family, additional information about the case, Alex's trial, and more.

When Michael D. Fuller decided to adapt the infamous Murdaugh family story with co-creator Erin Lee Carr for the screen, inspired by the true crime podcast from Mandy Matney (played by Brittany Snow in the series), the duo knew they had a tall task ahead with so many moving parts. From a tragic boating accident, embezzlement, extramarital affairs, to a tragic double-murder, the skeletons started to emerge thanks to Matney's reporting, which started to bring the actions of the family, particularly patriarch Alex Murdaugh (Jason Clarke), to light. Fuller spoke to Bleeding Cool about what the Hulu miniseries Murdaugh: Death in the Family was able to show that Matney's podcast hadn't uncovered, how Clarke and Patricia Clarke were able to portray Alex and Maggie's deteriorating marriage, and if he felt one episode was sufficient for Alex's murder trial in the finale "The Man in the Glass" was sufficient for the narrative.

Murdaugh: Death in the Family Showrunner Michael D Fuller on Expanding TV Narrative Beyond Podcast, Alex-Maggie's Deteriorating Marriage, and Alex's Murder Trial

As you navigated through the narrative, were there any stories that were expanded in Murdaugh for TV but Mandy Matney's podcast might not have covered?

One of the things we were able to touch on was what was related to the Stephen Smith story, and we had the benefit of hindsight on that. We had the most hindsight from when all these events were unfolding, obviously. It was through Mandy, and it was with connecting with Sandy Smith, Steven's mother, and that was one thing where we got new insight from Sandy on what she believes about the case, which we then dramatized in episode five ("The Prince"). That was one of the things that we touched on, and that was not originally in the podcast.

That was what we considered to be pretty new information, and then, honestly, anything that we would as it relates to Maggie, which again was fueled by research and a lot of that was done through connections that Mandy had, but exploring Maggie as a person and our version of Maggie as a character was something that was not big again, because as it was unfolding, there wasn't a lot of information to go on, as Mandy was reporting in real time in the podcast.

What was it like navigating through the deterioration between Alex and Maggie, and how well Jason and Patricia carried that in the performances?

It helps significantly if you're going to be showing the deterioration of a marriage to have actors as powerful as Jason Clarke and Patricia Arquette. We knew going in where this story tragically ends for this couple, so it's how do we then bring that to life, but also showing there was real love and a real connection there. They were in real life, married for 20-some odd years. They had a family together, and there was from all that we've known, it was very complicated and complex. It was about, "How do we explore the connection between them? How do we explore the fun moments?" for us.

The moments like in episode four ("Controlled Burn") where they're sitting there folding laundry and watching Real Housewives as these events are unfolding, so with Jason and Patricia, it's about you don't have to give them a lot, because they're so incredible. They're going to bring so much to the table, and do so much incredible work in terms of their characters, but also the world and story of the show. We're very fortunate to have them dramatizing it, and it was helpful to have actors of their caliber.

Given Alex's trial in the finale, was there any thought to consider spacing that out across the series, perhaps dedicate more than one episode to the proceeding itself, or was it limiting the way pacing sorted itself out, given what space of the series you had to work with?

No, it's a great question, man. It was the one that you would have enjoyed being in the writer's room with us about this time a year ago when we were trying to sort all that out. There's a world where, at certain points, we tried to have high-level discussions about how the trial could have been in its own season. It was such the real trial was so crazy in so many ways, with so many twists and turns, and so many of its own characters. When we sold the show 3 1/2 years ago, the trial hadn't happened yet. We sold it, we didn't know what we didn't know, but we left ourselves room to be flexible narratively.

I toyed early on with the idea of using the trial as a framing device, but I felt like when you're at a certain point, it's the Hitchcockian element of putting the bomb under the bench for your characters and creating suspense. You realize they don't know what's there. The trial felt like it was like two bombs in one, because it's a trial, then there's the murders, and it felt like, "Let's build to the murders themselves, then meet this family, and how could they end up in this at this point and track that." The trial was so fascinating. It was so sprawling, and it was one of the bigger creative challenges in how to streamline that into an episode. Could we get you an extra episode to do two episodes of the trial? Where we landed ultimately works well, because it forced us to be as efficient and economical as possible while never sacrificing the emotion of the story.

All episodes of Murdaugh: Death in the Family, which also stars Johnny Berchtold, Will Harrison, Gerald McRaney, J. Smith-Cameron, Tyner Rushing, Kathleen Wilhoite, Noah Emmerich, and Tommy Dewey, are available to stream on Hulu.

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