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Alex Murdaugh is getting the Hollywood treatment - in a new Lifetime movie starring Bill Pullman

Murdaugh Murders: The Movie will air at 8pm on 14 October and 15 October on Lifetime

Andrea Cavallier
Thursday 07 September 2023 01:35 BST
(Lifetime Network)

Six months after former attorney Alex Murdaugh was convicted of murder, the Lifetime Network announced a new movie about the once prominent South Carolina dynasty that came crashing down following a fatal boating accident, a slew of financial crimes and the brutal slayings of his wife and son.

Lifetime’s 500th original movie Murdaugh Murders: The Movie is set to air in a two-night event next month and stepping into the role of the convicted killer is 69-year-old actor Bill Pullman.

First-look images from the movie obtained by Entertainment Weekly - and posted to social media by Lifetime - show a chilling Pullman, his reddish-blonde slicked back, violently grabbing actor Curtis Tweedie, who is portraying his slain son Paul Murdaugh. Lauren Robek plays his wife Maggie.

Another eerie image shows Pullman decked out in a black tux and red bowtie, similar to what Murdaugh was pictured wearing in one of the well-known photos of the family prior to the June 2021 killings.

The images from the Lifetime movie also show Mr Pullman as Murdaugh speaking at a press conference and later being led away in tan jail scrubs and handcuffs.

The two-part film chronicles the series of events that led to Murdaugh to kill his 52-year-old wife Maggie Murdaugh and his younger son 22-year-old Paul Murdaugh, at the family’s hunting property on 7 June 2021.

Murdaugh was found guilty in March 2023 and is now serving two life sentences.

Bill Pullman plays convicted killer Alex Murdaugh in the new Lifetime movie ‘Murdaugh Murders: The Movie’ - set to air in October
Bill Pullman plays convicted killer Alex Murdaugh in the new Lifetime movie ‘Murdaugh Murders: The Movie’ - set to air in October (Lifetime Network)

“Even with all of Alex’s influence, he couldn’t prevent the Murdaugh Family’s legacy from being tarnished after Paul was involved in a boating accident that left a young girl dead,” according to a Lifetime Network release.

“While Maggie was consumed with what was happening with Paul, Alex was hiding his addiction to opioids and stealing insurance settlements from his own clients to fund his habit and the family’s lavish lifestyle. Then in June 2021, Maggie and Paul were found murdered, and eyes began to turn to Alex.”

The timely announcement of the film comes just a day after Murdaugh’s defence attorneys filed a motion requesting a new trial on the grounds that the Colleton County Clerk of Court Rebecca Hill tampered with the jury because she was driven by fame and a desire to secure a book deal.

Murdaugh was sentenced to two consecutive life sentences for the murders of Maggie and Paul
Murdaugh was sentenced to two consecutive life sentences for the murders of Maggie and Paul
Buster, Maggie, Paul and Alex Murdaugh
Buster, Maggie, Paul and Alex Murdaugh (Maggie Murdaugh/Facebook)

The bombshell allegations come one week after the convicted killer lost some of his inmate privileges after he fed information to Fox Nation documentary “The Fall of the House of Murdaugh” without permission from prison officials.

In the documentary, his only surviving son Buster broke his silence as he insisted that he still believes his father is innocent but admitted that he may be a psychopath.

Murdaugh Murders: The Movie will air at 8pm on 14 October and 15 October on Lifetime.

A second season of Netflix’s docuseries Murdaugh Murders:: A Southern Scandal will drop on 22 September.

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