Hulu’s Murdaugh: Death in the Family unpacks the scandals, deaths and murder trial that made the Murdaugh family notorious — but what did the show get wrong?
Based on the “Murdaugh Murders” podcast, the scripted series, which premiered in October, followed journalist Mandy Matney as she investigated and blogged about the powerful family leading up to and in the wake of their downfall.
Matney began looking into the Murdaugh family and their crimes after Paul Murdaugh was under criminal indictment for Mallory Beach’s wrongful death before Alex Murdagh killed Paul and his mother, Maggie Murdaugh, in 2021. Alex was found guilty on all four counts related to their murders.
Alex was previously accused of misappropriating funds from his law firm, clients and the government through a scheme involving embezzlement, wire fraud and money laundering. He is currently facing a total of 102 grand jury criminal charges and 19 indictments relating to fraud and drug offenses. He was disbarred, had his assets seized and is serving two consecutive life sentences for the murders of Maggie and Paul.
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Executive producer Michael D. Fuller spoke exclusively to Us Weekly about finding the balance between true events and creating a show.
“For anyone who knows the real story, it’s sprawling and it’s complex. The thing that was my guiding principle that I tried to imbue the process with is we might not always be able to do the [full] truth because [of] the restrictions of episode count and the running time. But let’s always try to be aware of what the truth is,” he shared in October. “Then let’s make sure that in our story’s truth we know why we made this decision. We know why we made this adaptation choice.”
The priority was to have “utmost respect and reverence” to the victims depicted on screen. Fuller also recalled how Alex’s trial affected the series since it was filming at the same time.
Murdaugh: Death in the Family is currently streaming on Hulu. Keep scrolling for a breakdown of every inaccuracy or onscreen shift the show made in order to create the TV show:
Alex Murdaugh’s Jellyball Operation
Before he was arrested, Alex was involved in a jellyfish harvesting and processing business that was shut down in 2015 amid environmental concerns. Fuller told Us it was included in the series for context despite it taking place years before the other events in Alex’s life involving Paul’s boat crash in 2019.
The Timeline of Gloria Satterfield’s Connection to the Murdaughs
Satterfield was the Murdaugh’s housekeeper who died in 2018 after suffering a fall at their home. Her death was connected to the Murdaugh family scandals when a large settlement was revealed to have been stolen by Alex. He ultimately admitted to lying about the circumstances of Satterfield’s death, which was previously ruled an accident.
In Murdaugh: Death in the Family, Satterfield was seen comforting Paul and the family after the 2019 boat crash but in real life she had already died.
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Alex Murdaugh’s Meeting With Mandy Matney
While Matney was in the same place as Alex — in a courthouse — the show took liberties with details including it being at the boat crash site.
The Murdaughs Going on a Vacation After the Crash
The show’s premiere depicted a trip that the Murdaughs took to Kokomo immediately after Paul’s involvement in the crash. According to past social media posts, the family was in the Bahamas two years before the boat wreck.
