HBO has released a new trailer for its upcoming six-part documentary series I'll Be Gone in the Dark, which follows the late crime writer Michelle McNamara as she hunts for the Golden State Killer.
The series is based on McNamara's book of the same name, and her research was so harrowing that it kept her up night after night with terrible nightmares. Desperate to rest and quell her mounting anxieties, she accidentally overdosed on prescription drugs and died tragically in her sleep with her manuscript unfinished. After her death, McNamara's husband, comedian Patton Oswalt, enlisted his wife’s fellow sleuths, Paul Haynes and Billy Jensen, to help finish and publish her book. nearly two years after he death. It went on to become a New York Times bestseller, and just two months later, an arrest was made in the case, with DNA evidence pointing toward a 72-year-old former police officer.
I'll Be Gone in the Dark follows McNamara she she delves into the dark world of a violent predator who terrorized California in the '70s and '80s. The Golden State Killer, as she dubbed him, is responsible for 50 home-invasion rapes and 12 murders. The series aims to give voice to the survivors and their families, documenting an era when sex crimes were often dismissed or hidden in shame.
I can't imagine the courage it took to move forward with an investigation like this, sleuthing around in online chat rooms and crime blogs dedicated to the gruesome details of these crimes, but McNamara's quest for justice knew no bounds. She fought for these victims and ultimately laid her life on the line in the pursuit of the truth. That's as noble as it gets for a crime journalist.
Director Liz Garbus employs her Lost Girls star Amy Ryan to tell McNamara's detective story in her own words via exclusive original recordings and excerpts from her book. The series also draws from extensive archival footage and police files, as well as exclusive new interviews with detectives, survivors and family members of the killer, to weave together a picture of a complex and flawed investigation that came at a time when victims were often too ashamed to speak out, and sexual crime was minimized in both the press and the courtroom.
I'll Be Gone in the Dark premieres on Sunday, June 28, and additional directors on the series include Elizabeth Wolff, Myles Kane and Josh Koury. HBO also unveiled the six episode titles, which are "Murder Habit," "Reign of Terror," "Rat in a Maze," "The Motherlode," "Monsters Recede but Never Vanish," and "Walk into the Light." Watch the latest trailer below, and click here to read Collider's review of Lost Girls, even though I personally disagree with it.