“Maggie Murdaugh has one line in it”: How Murdaugh: Death in the Family creators reclaimed Maggie’s story in the series

Hulu's popular true crime series, Murdaugh: Death in the Family, premiered on October 15, 2025, and explores the story of the Murdaugh family before the murders of Paul and Maggie Murdaugh, for which Alex Murdaugh was convicted. Based on Mandy Matney's podcast, the series took a different approach and focused on teh lives of the victims of murder, especially Maggie Murdaugh, the matriarch.

While talking to ScreenRant, creators of the show, Erin Lee Carr and Michael D. Fuller shared that it was the one line in the Murdaugh family Wikipedia page about Maggie that prompted them to focus on Maggie's story. Carr stated:

"It was pointed out to me that, on the Murdaugh Wikipedia page, which has been visited hundreds of thousands of times, Maggie Murdaugh has one line in it. One line. Everybody else has their own link, their own everything."

She further added:

"So, when we talked about doing this, we said, "What about the lives of Maggie and Paul Murdaugh that happened before they were killed on that fateful day in June 2021?"

While the story of the murder has been covered in the Hulu's Murdaugh: Death in the Family, it is also the story of who Maggie Murdaugh is, and also provides insight into her story, which hasn't been showcased yet.

More on this in our story.

Murdaugh: Death in the Family - Creators' comments on reclaiming Maggie Murdaugh's story

While most true crime series focus on the crime and the criminal, Murdaugh: Death in the Family took a different approach and focused on the lives of Maggie and Paul Murdaugh before they were killed by Alex, the patriarch of the family. Carr shared that it was the one line in the Murdaugh family Wikipedia page about Maggie that helped them decide the direction of their scripted series.

While it also covers the murder and murderer, Carr shared with ScreenRant that it pays immense attention to the Murdaugh household, leading to the double murders. To add to Carr's above comment, she stated:

"This story has been covered, but it's really about what happened inside that house. And although I'm a very proud documentary filmmaker, that was a place cameras were not able to get into. How on Earth did these things converge into a family annihilation plot? We felt so motivated and humbled to tell the story of the circumstances that led there, in all their depravity, but also their humanity."

Michael D. Fuller added to what Erin shared and said that their main purpose was to add "human drama" to the story of Murdaugh: Death in the Family that has been covered numerous times. Fuller further praised Patricia Arquette's performance as Maggie Murdaugh, which added more to the humane story of the victims of a horrifying murder case, and said:

"She obviously is such a powerhouse of an actress, and I think the thing that's really interesting in this is that so many times she's playing the mother as the character, which is an incredible performance. But she's also the woman who's our touchstone for this story, and she's grounding it through her humanity, which was really interesting."

Along with Patricia Arquette, Murdaugh: Death in the Family also stars Jason Clarke, Johnny Berchtold, Gerald McRaney, Will Harrison, and Brittany Snow in important roles.

Trending

Keep reading Soap Central for more such stories.

Also Read: Memory Of A Killer first look teases Patrick Dempsey’s portrayal of a ruthless hitman in the Fox thriller series

×

Was this article helpful?

Thank You for feedback