A double murder. The white Ford Bronco. Bloody gloves. And former NFL player O.J. Simpson at the front and center of the country’s most high profile case.
Thirty years ago this week, millions of people started tuning in what came to be known as the trial of the century, seeing evidence to determine if Simpson slaughtered his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman.
Days after the two were found dead in a double murder in June 1994, viewers around the world tuned in to watch police pursue Simpson in car chase across the highways of Los Angeles.
And yet when Simpson was acquitted after his eight-month long trial in 2005, the saga sparked debate and controversy that reverberated for years.
Countless movies, TV shows, and documentaries have been made about the case, which has become a cultural phenomenon, even following Simpson’s death in April 2024.
The new four-part Netflix docuseries American Manhunt: O.J. Simpson, which begins streaming on January 29, reexamines it. The series features new interviews with major players and witnesses from the time of the murders, as it breaks down the case, considers implications of dismissed evidence, and the role of the public spectacle.
Director Floyd Russ, who also directed American Manhunt: Boston Marathon Bombing and Untold: Malice at the Palace, said he sought to bring Simpson’s story to a new generation, offering a new lens on the historic trial.
“Our interview subjects have a power to reflect in a new way with the passage of 30 years,” he told Netflix’s Tudum. “This is a story that has so many faces and so many elements that when you contextualize it historically it takes on a new form every few years.”
The series features new interviews with many of the key figures from the investigation and trial, including former LAPD detective Mark Fuhrman, as well as witness Kato Kaelin, who was the “last person to see OJ before the murders,” Kaelin says in the doc.
Ron Goldman’s sister Kim Goldman also speaks in the doc, taking viewers through her grief as she recalls the night her brother was killed and the aftermath of the murders.
“My brother was returning Nicole’s glasses,” she says on the doc, breaking down in tears before continuing, “and was slaughtered to death.”
Attorneys for the defense and prosecution, Carl Douglas and Christopher Darden, are also interviewed.
“Their emotions have evolved, and the way they’re able to talk about it is different than they ever have before,” Russ said of the interviews.
On June 12, 1994, Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman were found brutally murdered outside Nicole’s home in Los Angeles.
