# Making a Murderer (2015)

> A decade-long documentary follows a DNA exoneree who, while exposing police corruption, becomes the suspect in a new murder case.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/57018

## Facts

- Seasons: 2
- Episodes: 20
- Episode runtime: 60 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: documentary, crime
- Created by: Moira Demos, Laura Ricciardi
- Network: Netflix
- Cast: Steven Avery, Kathleen Zellner
- TMDB rating: 8.5/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5189670/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: measured
- Intensity: strong
- Complexity: layered
- Violence: mild
- Tone: tense, sober, unsettling, claustrophobic, morally ambiguous

## What critics say

Critics and audiences broadly acclaim the series as a gripping, meticulously assembled examination of a contested criminal case and the failings of the justice system.

## Synopsis

Making a Murderer (2015-2018) is an American true crime docuseries created by Moira Demos and Laura Ricciardi for Netflix. Filmed over ten years, the two-season, twenty-episode documentary follows Steven Avery, a man freed after serving eighteen years for a crime he did not commit, as he pursues a civil lawsuit against the county that jailed him. His fight against the local sheriff's department turns darker when he becomes the suspect in a grisly new killing. Attorney Kathleen Zellner appears as a central figure in the legal battle that follows. The engine of the series is the slow accumulation of court filings, interrogation footage, trial proceedings, and family interviews, with each episode revealing another layer of evidence and doubt. Rather than a case-of-the-week format, it is one continuing investigation told in patient, observational detail. Set in rural Manitowoc County, Wisconsin, the series is steeped in a cold, rain-washed atmosphere of small town distrust and institutional suspicion. Its tone is tense, sober and unsettling, and it will appeal to viewers who admire the investigative patience of The Thin Blue Line, the public scrutiny of Serial, and the layered legal intrigue of The Jinx.

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- [This Is the Zodiac Speaking (2024)](https://ember.film/tv/179262)
- [Trial by Media (2020)](https://ember.film/tv/86181)
- [The Confession Killer (2019)](https://ember.film/tv/81020)
- [The Innocent Man (2018)](https://ember.film/tv/72066)
- [The Keepers (2017)](https://ember.film/tv/24040)
- [Conversations with a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes (2019)](https://ember.film/tv/72908)
- [Interrogation (2020)](https://ember.film/tv/81425)

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