Making a Murderer Will Return For a Second Season, But it Won't Be the Same Series

published 19 July 2016

A few episodes into Making a Murderer, Steven Avery is exonerated of a rape and attempted murderer sentence after DNA testing clears his name. It feels like the end. But the story is only beginning. From there the truly bizarre and fascinating part of his life unfolds, as directors Laura Ricciardi and Moira Demos, document is arrest and 2007 conviction for the murder of Teresa Halbach.

Then, as the series ends 10 episodes later, it's hardly a satisfying conclusion. Avery—after the documentary showed the questionable tactics of the prosecution and local law enforcement—still sat in prison waiting for a new trial. It's not some Hollywood ending. It's real life. But the story is not over yet.

Making a Murderer will return for a second season, Netflix announced today. The new episodes will follow Avery and his co-defendant Brendan Dassey as their "respective investigative and legal teams challenge their convictions and the state fights to have the convictions and life sentences upheld."

This will include interviews with Avery's new lawyer Kathleen Zellner and Dassey's legal team.

"We are extremely grateful for the tremendous response to, and support of, the series," Ricciardi and Demos said in a statement. "The viewers' interest and attention has ensured that the story is not over, and we are fully committed to continuing to document events as they unfold."

Last week, Making a Murderer picked up six Emmy nominations, justification for the time it dedicated to the exhaustive coverage of this case. But as it returns, this will be a different show, as the creators told Deadline.

"The story does continue," Demos told Deadline. "We are committed to finding a way to follow it, and we'll need to explore a different way to do it this time, because it is in the zeitgeist, it is in the 24-hour news cycle. So we're looking at new ways of doing that."

Aside from the visibility of this story now, the creators simply don't have the time to delve as deeply into the story.

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Matt Miller is a Brooklyn-based culture/lifestyle writer and music critic whose work has appeared in Esquire, Forbes, The Denver Post, and documentaries.