The saga of the horrific Murdaugh killings has been dissected in countless documentaries, podcasts and news articles, but Hulu’s new series Murdaugh: Death in the Family aims to do something different – dramatize the unthinkable double murder.
The eight-episode limited series reimagines one of the most shocking crime stories in recent memory – the downfall of South Carolina lawyer Alex Murdaugh, convicted in the 2021 murders of his wife Maggie and their son Paul. The two were shot dead at the family’s property in South Carolina. Before their deaths, the family was well known in the Low Country and had served as lawyers for generations.
On June 7, 2021, Maggie Murdaugh and Paul Murdaugh were reported dead by Alex Murdaugh, who was Maggie’s husband and Paul’s dad. What transpired was a case that became a sensation and included allegations of stolen money, a deadly teenage boat wreck and investigations into other deaths that had been connected to the Murdaugh family.
Inspired by journalist Mandy Matney’s Murdaugh Murders Podcast, the series doesn’t offer any new information, but gives viewers a closer look at what the Murdaugh family might have experienced amid the many tragedies.
Despite the series largely sticking to the accurate story, it reorders the real timeline, moving key events around to fit a cleaner narrative arc. And for viewers who know the case inside and out, this detail is hard to ignore.
When the timeline goes off script
In Death in the Family, tragedy unfolds as a chain reaction, beginning with the 2019 boat crash that killed 19-year-old Mallory Beach and spiraling toward the brutal 2021 double homicide. Paul was behind the wheel and accused of being drunk. He initially escaped criminal charges, until public pressure grew and was eventually charged by state officials.
The crash exposed the family’s influence over local law enforcement and helped fuel public scrutiny of the Murdaughs’ law firm, where Murdaugh was later found to have stolen millions from clients and the practice itself.
The first three episodes, released October 15, center on that fatal boat crash.
The remaining episodes, dropping weekly, dramatize the family’s fall from societal grace, culminating in the night of the murders at Moselle, the family’s hunting estate in Islandton.
In reality, the first signs of the Murdaugh empire’s unraveling began in 2018, when the family’s longtime housekeeper, Gloria Satterfield, died after a fall at their home.
But in the series, Satterfield’s death appears to come after the boat tragedy, with her fall coming at the end of episode three. The reordering suggests that Satterfield’s death is part of the family’s post-crash spiral, rather than a precursor to it.
In reality, her death, and the misappropriation of her $4.3 million life insurance settlement, was one of the first hints of Murdaugh’s web of deceit.
What stays true to the case
The show traces the family’s unraveling in the years leading up to the 2021 killings, years marked by financial fraud, privilege, and tragedy, and attempts to show how cracks in the Murdaugh dynasty widened until it all collapsed.
Despite its timeline tweaks, Death in the Family does keep several details intact.
Paul is portrayed as the family’s black sheep – reckless and prone to drinking. In the series, his older brother jokes that he’s only going to law school so he can “keep Paul out of trouble.”
That portrayal tracks with accounts from people who knew Paul. Friends told Matney that he became a different person when drunk, known by his alter ego“Timmy.”
In the show, as in real life, Alex Murdaugh tries to shift blame from his son to another boat passenger, Connor Cook, whose family had long-standing ties to the Murdaughs.
Why the details still matter
The shift timeline isn’t unique to Death in the Family. Dramatizations often condense or rearrange timelines to heighten emotional impact or simplify complex storylines.
But when audiences know a story this well, the decision to rewrite chronology feels more like rewriting history. And for viewers who’ve followed every twist in the Murdaugh saga, those dates still matter.
The first three episodes of Murdaugh: Death in the Family are now streaming on Hulu.
