A follow-up season of ‘Making a Murderer’? ‘We are ready,’ say its filmmakers

There’s no denying many viewers of Netflix’s “Making a Murderer” would welcome a follow-up to the gripping case of Steven Avery.

For the uninitiated, the decade-in-the-making documentary series follows the case of Avery, a Wisconsin man wrongly convicted of sexual assault and now serving a life sentence for a murder he says he did not commit. Brendan Dassey, Avery’s nephew, was also convicted for his alleged involvement in the crime.

During the online TV network’s day at the Television Critics Assn. press tour in Pasadena, chief content officer Ted Sarandos told reporters teased that a possible follow-up season on the case could happen.

FULL COVERAGE: Television Critics Association press tour

“The story is still unfolding,” Sarandos said. “So we’ll certainly take a look at it.”

Of course, nothing is official. But when filmmakers Moira Demos and Laura Ricciardi appeared before the press later in the day to discuss the 10-part series that has gripped the nation (at the very least, the streaming nation), the pair said they’ve continued to track developments in the month since the docu-series launched.

“We’ve had several telephone conversations with Steven Avery,” Ricciardi said. “We did record those calls with an eye towards including them in any episodes should there be future episodes. But we have not returned to Wisconsin in the past four weeks.”

Demos later added: “This story is ongoing, these cases are open. It’s real-life so you don’t know what’s going to happen. We are ready…if there are significant developments, we will be there. And we are looking at other stories, as well.”

Asked what those other stories might be that they’re working on, Demos only offered: “As we know from making this series, it’s a huge commitment that we take very seriously and it’s just apparent to us that we would need time to think about what we would [want to do] next.”

The Netflix series has been a lightning rod of the zeitgeist -- spawning conspiracy theories, igniting petitions calling for the release of Avery from prison, and yielding claims by the former prosecutor on the case, Ken Kratz, that the show left out key evidence. Most recently, HLN host Nancy Grace has been a vocal about her views on Avery’s case.

Ricciardi defended the research that she and Demos conducted throughout the decade-long process of tracking the story.

“We’re documentary filmmakers,” Ricciardi said of some of the blowback that has been received. “We’re not prosecutors, were not defense attorneys. We did not set out to convict or exonerate anyone. We set out to examine the criminal justice system and how it’s functioning today. It just would have been impossible for us to include every piece of evidence that was submitted to the court or attempted to be submitted to the court.”

The filmmakers were also asked about a recent TV interview in which Avery’s ex-fiance, Jodi Stachowski, who was prominently featured in the docu-series, said Avery was physically abusive and revealed that she believes he is guilty.

“I can’t say why Jodi is saying what she is in the media today,” Demos said, noting that the series gives an “accurate portrayal” of what Stachowski said she was feeling when they interviewed her nine years ago.

Asked what Avery’s response to the series has been, Ricciardi said his request to view it was denied.

“Steven does not have access to the series,” she said. “He asked the warden and his social worker whether he’d be able to see it and his request was denied.”

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