On March 2, 2023, former lawyer Alex Murdaugh was found guilty of murdering his wife, Maggie, and son Paul in 2021. The verdict came just weeks after the true crime series Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal premiered, documenting the events leading to the jury’s decision. On Sept. 20, Murdaugh Murders returned, continuing the story of how one family devastated a tight-knit South Carolina community.
The second season of Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal was directed by Michael Gasparro and executive produced by Julia Willoughby Nason.
“The story has always been about the people who lived through this firsthand,” Gasparro tells Tudum. “In Season 1, we focused on the kids, and that was always the core story we wanted to tell and root into. In Season 2, we wanted to talk to the people that were there in the days and aftermath of the murders [of Paul and Maggie Murdaugh].”
Paul Murdaugh and ex-girlfriend Morgan Doughty, who is interviewed in ‘Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal’ Season 2
In 2023, Alex Murdaugh stood trial for the murder of his wife, Maggie, and his son Paul. Season 2 of Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal interviews those involved in the case — including jurors, prosecutors, witnesses, and former friends of the Murdaugh family — and gives an in-depth look at the trial, from the media circus that unraveled outside the courthouse to the circumstantial evidence that led to his conviction. The series shows footage that was key to the case against the defendant, including body-cam video from June 7, 2021, the night Maggie and Paul Murdaugh were killed on Alex Murdaugh’s property, and evidence photos from the night of the boat crash that killed Paul’s friend Mallory Beach in 2019.
The second season features firsthand accounts from those who were there the days leading up to and following the murders of Maggie and Paul Murdaugh, including:
One of the biggest revelations in Season 2 is Curtis Edward Smith’s claim that Alex Murdaugh allegedly tried to convince Smith to shoot and kill him to avoid being implicated in the murders of his wife and son.
“I asked, ‘Why do you want me to shoot you?’” Smith, aka Cousin Eddie, says in the doc series, saying Murdaugh told him “they knew I’d be responsible because [they’re going to] be able to prove that I was responsible for Maggie and Paul.”
Willoughby Nason says that including Smith’s confession in the second installment of the series was an effort to let him tell his side of the story, in his own words.
“Cousin Eddie was a delicate subject to interview,” Willoughby Nason tells Tudum. “It seemed he had been stereotyped by the media and scapegoated by Alex Murdaugh’s attorneys. It was important that we ask direct questions about the allegations of his criminal activity.”
Murdaugh’s trial — State of South Carolina v. Richard Alexander Murdaugh — began Jan. 25, 2023, and ended March 2, 2023. The jury convicted Murdaugh on two counts of murder and two counts of using a weapon during the commission of a violent crime. He is currently serving consecutive life sentences at a maximum security prison in South Carolina.
On Sept. 18, Murdaugh reached a plea deal with federal prosecutors on financial fraud charges. He appeared in court on Sept. 21 to plead guilty to his crimes, making it the first time he’d ever entered a guilty plea. That plea will serve as admission that the disbarred South Carolina attorney stole nearly $2 million from his clients while he was practicing. He is still awaiting trial on more than 100 other financial and drug crime charges, and is could owe a minimum of $7.6 million in restitution, fines, and legal fees for his federal crimes.
“I think [over] the next decade we will continue to hear about what else Alex was involved in,” Gasparro says.
Watch Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal on Netflix now. To get the whole story before diving in to Season 2, check out our comprehensive explainer of Season 1, and read our timeline of the events leading to Murdaugh’s conviction.
