# Conversations with a Killer: The Charles Manson Tapes (2026)

> A three-part Netflix docuseries tracing Charles Manson's rise as a cult leader, the 1969 murders and his trial through unreleased prison recordings and archival footage.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/1105220

## Facts

- Seasons: 1
- Episodes: 3
- Episode runtime: 172 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: documentary
- Created by: Joe Berlinger
- Network: Netflix
- Cast: Charles Manson, Jerry De Rosa, Robert Burbridge, Sharon Tate, Roman Polanski, Linda Deutsch, Jay Sebring, Abigail Folger
- TMDB rating: 6.7/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt43725623/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: measured
- Intensity: strong
- Complexity: layered
- Violence: moderate
- Tone: sober, grim, unsettling, clinical, haunting

## Synopsis

Conversations with a Killer: The Charles Manson Tapes (2026) is a British-American true crime docuseries created by Joe Berlinger for Netflix. Across three episodes totaling roughly 172 minutes, it follows the rise of cult leader Charles Manson, who appears through unreleased prison recordings and archival footage. Retired Los Angeles police officers Jerry De Rosa and Robert Burbridge recount the investigation, while journalists Linda Deutsch and Ivor Davis and television reporter Al Wiman describe how the case unfolded in the press. Archive material also brings in the victims, including Sharon Tate, Jay Sebring and Abigail Folger, and Roman Polanski, whose lives were cut short or upended by the killings. The engine of the series is the slow assembly of how a charismatic drifter gathered followers in late 1960s California and how those followers came to commit the 1969 murders. Each episode builds its case through interview testimony, press clippings and the trial itself, so the story unfolds as one continuous investigation rather than separate cases. The tone is sober, grim and unsparing, with a steady focus on the human cost. Fans of The Staircase, Making a Murderer and Helter Skelter will find resonance in its archival rigor and its unsettling portrait of a manipulative cult leader.

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