A 2015 HBO docuseries, The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst, happens to be one of the most fascinating true crime entries of the past decade. The culmination of this series actually ended up being the real estate heir’s arrest and his off-camera declaration of “What the hell did I do? Killed them all, of course.” Durst subsequently went to prison and died behind bars in 2022, but while the six episodes of The Jinx filmed, no one knew whether he’d ever pay for his fatal crimes.
Fast forward to late 2023, and HBO revealed that a second season of The Jinx (with the first one available to stream on Max) was actually on the way. What’s left to uncover in more episodes? Let’s talk it out.
Plot
When the initial series debuted, Durst had long since (and repeatedly) been accused of murder, although he always skated from these accusations due to insufficient evidence. The initial crime in question involved the 1982 disappearance of his first wife, Kathleen McCormack Durst. The scion also killed two other people, Morris Black and Susan Berman, with the latter murder being the crime that he ultimately served time for committing after being arrested on the day before the first season finale aired. This was admittedly an unexpected development, given that Durst was repeatedly connected with the gruesome circumstances of the latter two murders, seemingly to no avail. Definitive prosecution always eluded his case until The Jinx put the final nail into his coffin, so to speak.
The first season of The Jinx included an extensive dive into archival footage and police files as whittled down by director Andrew Jarecki, and Durst’s late-breaking confession (as recorded in a New Orleans hotel lobby) shocked the HBO audience, since the show prompted a reinvestigation — based upon evidence gathered and brought to light by the project’s filmmakers — that finally led to his conviction.
However, the filmmakers, including Jarecki, did not consider their jobs done. They persisted in digging up more archival footage and gathering Durst’s phone calls from prison while also interviewing experts and relevant subjects who didn’t appear in the first season of The Jinx. Given that the show earned an Emmy (for Outstanding Documentary Or Nonfiction Series and Outstanding Picture Editing For Nonfiction Programming) and was nominated for five others, HBO saw fit to greenlight another six episodes for a second season.
Little else is known about where The Jinx will go next, other than picking up with how citizen investigators led to a murderer finally being punished.
Cast
Obviously, there will be plenty of Robert Durst footage and audio in this batch of episodes. We can also expect to hear from law enforcement and those who worked behind the scenes on researching Durst’s chilling acts before, during, and after the airing of The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst.
Release Date
The six-parter will premiere on HBO starting April 21.
Trailer
No full trailer has surfaced. However, at around the 0:55 mark below, HBO gives a slight peek at footage showing Durst taking a phone call in prison.
