Photo Credit: Netflix
Netflix is releasing a three-part series about the 2005 Michael Jackson trial covering the pop star’s charges of child molestation, debuting on June 3.
Lionsgate’s Michael biopic is still filling seats at the box office, but Netflix is preparing to release a very different kind of Michael Jackson documentary. “Michael Jackson: The Verdict” is a three-part series covering the pop star’s 2003 charges of child molestation and the subsequent 2005 trial. The series is set to premiere on June 3.
The docuseries will feature key individuals who were in the courtroom, including jurors, witnesses, accusers, and defenders. The series promises to explore the case against Jackson from both the prosecution and the defense. Though the megastar was acquitted on all counts, interest in the legal battle and the allegations against him have continued long after his death in 2009.
“Michael Jackson: The Verdict” is directed by Nick Green and executive produced by Fiona Stourton and James Goldston. According to the filmmakers, it “felt like the right time to revisit the trial and its lingering questions.” They state that they “approached it as a historical account, presenting facts as they unfolded in court.”
“It’s been 20 years since the trial of Michael Jackson, in which he was found not guilty. Yet, to this day, controversy still rages,” the filmmakers told Netflix’s Tudum. “No cameras were allowed in court, and so the public’s view of the facts at the time were filtered by commentators and presented piecemeal. It was time to take a forensic look at the trial as a whole.”
The docuseries includes interviews with media figures who were covering the trial at the time. “The aim was to take the audience inside the proceedings and only speak to eyewitnesses who played a part in those events,” said the filmmakers.
“Anyone interested in the Michael Jackson story should feel this documentary gives them a window into what was largely a closed event and a chance to feel closer to what happened.”
The series is created by showrunner David Herman, who executive produces alongside Stourton and Goldston, and is produced by Candle True Stories.
