Making a Murderer directors: Steven Avery is not guilty beyond a reasonable doubt

Making a Murderer has become Netflix’s latest binge-watching phenomenon, but unlike most other popular TV shows, the tragedies and tribulations of this documentary series are based in fact. People across the country debating the show’s plot points doesn’t change the fact that Steven Avery is still in jail. When the show’s creators, Laura Ricciardi and Moira Demos, appeared on The Late Show Tuesday night, Stephen Colbert asked them whether this made the show’s success bittersweet.

“We feel like there are no winners here,” Ricciardi said. “What we hope to achieve by sharing this story with as many people as we can is to engage Americans and get people to feel responsibility and understand their own agency here. For instance, if we see someone in a perp walk on television, we can check ourselves and reserve judgment about that person, because at that point that person stands accused, has not been proven guilty.”

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Both Ricciardi and Demos reiterated that they’re not convinced Avery is guilty. Colbert noted that there is evidence against Avery, but for the filmmakers, it’s always been about proof.

“There are things that say he could be guilty, but is he guilty beyond a reasonable doubt? Nothing I’ve seen, and I’ve seen a lot of stuff, has convinced me of that,” Demos said.

Ricciardi and Demos spent years with this story. Now that it’s a success, Colbert asked whether their next project might be a little sunnier. Ricciardi, for one, would like to do something more musical.

“I would love to follow Florence + the Machine, but I haven’t reached out to her yet,” Ricciardi said.

Watch the full interview above.