After eight weeks of exploring almost every inch of the Michael Peterson case, famously known as The Staircase, the eight-part series on HBO Max of the same name has come to an end.
In 2003, Michael Peterson (played by Colin Firth) had been convicted of killing his wife Kathleen Peterson (played by Toni Collette), after she was found dead with severe injuries at the bottom of the staircase in their home on December 9, 2001.
The series explores Kathleen and Michael's life together before her death, explores multiple theories raised about what happened to Kathleen Peterson on the night of her death, as well as following Michael's lengthy legal fight and the impact the case had on his children.
Michael Peterson was officially declared a free man in February 2017 when he entered an Alford Plea to the reduced charge of voluntary manslaughter. An Alford Plea is a plea where the defendant admits that the evidence against them would likely lead to a finding of guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, but the defendant is able to assert their innocence, as Peterson did.
After entering his Alford Plea, Michael Peterson was sentenced to time already served, meaning he was allowed to leave prison for good.
Since Michael Peterson's trial in 2003, true-crime enthusiasts have been debating the case, with more attention being brought to Peterson's guilty verdict thanks to Oscar-winning director Jean-Xavier de Lestrade's 13-part documentary series on the case dropped on Netflix in 2018.
For years, audiences have been questioning whether Michael Peterson killed his wife Kathleen, if the Owl Theory is truly plausible or if unfortunately, Kathleen simply fell down the stairs.
Now with The Staircase over on HBO Max, audiences may have been hoping to finally have some answers, however, this most definitely will not be the case, The Staircase star Vincent Vermignon told Newsweek.
Vermignon, who plays the real-life documentarian Jean-Xavier de Lestrade, shared he was "more confused than before" over the case, especially after hearing about the Owl Theory during filming.
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The Owl Theory, put forward by Michael Peterson's neighbor Larry Pollard, argues Kathleen died from blood loss after being attacked by an owl, not killed by Michael Peterson. In particular, Pollard believed the head injuries were caused by the sharp talons of an owl, not a blunt object like a fire poke as argued by the prosecution at the trial.
His theory was strengthened when he discovered the evidence collected by the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation included a microscopic owl feather and a wooden sliver from a tree limb from Kathleen Peterson's body.
Vermignon said: "I was convinced that I would have a real opinion about what happened because every day we had new facts. Everyday. We had new theories, every day we had new things. Crazy things. And right now, I'm even more confused than before.
"For example, when I heard about the owl theory, I'm like, 'Yeah, this cannot happen. This is not real' and when we were shooting we heard about a story about a woman who was jogging in the park and she got attacked by an owl and the marks, everything, the blood on the floor. That was very similar to what happened to Kathleen, so we were like, 'okay, that's a new theory that we have to take into account.'
"So if I'm completely honest with you right now? I don't know. I really don't know. I think this is what this show is about, I think it asks more questions than it brings answers."
At the end of The Staircase, Michael Peterson is officially free after entering his Alford plea. He is no longer dating The Staircase documentary editor, Sophie Brunet, and has opted to remain in Durham to be close to his family.
The series comes to an end with Michael Peterson telling Lestrade he had lied about his wife knowing about his bisexuality and hook-ups with men. During the case, the prosecution successfully argued a motive Michael Peterson may have had to kill Kathleen Peterson was that she had found out about his affairs with men.
When Lestrade asked him "did you kill Kathleen?" Peterson simply replied: "What happened to Kathleen was an accident." Today, the real Michael Peterson continues to maintain his innocence.
Vermignon told Newsweek the finale aimed to "question justice" and "the truth."
He explained: "I think going into it some people are going to be convinced of a theory over another, but I think that most people will be more confused. And I think that the key thing is to question justice, like 'what is justice? What is it? Is it because somebody tells you that you are guilty that it means that you're guilty?' and also questioning the fact of what the truth is because the documentary is supposed to show the truth, but the context and all the things around that...
"What is the truth? And when you think about that, I think it questions like really key things in our lives because we consume a lot of media, we consume a lot of information that is supposed to be true but we are different. If we see an event, we're going to have a different perspective on the very same event. So what if there may be something in between?
"I can't remember the name of the director who said that the best way to be as close as possible to the truth is to admit that we can't really see the truth, and to be aware of that."
Vermignon also explained the series intended to showcase who Kathleen Peterson was as a person. In The Staircase on HBO Max, she is portrayed by Toni Collette who gives a moving performance as Kathleen Peterson in the weeks leading up to her death. Inevitably, Kathleen Peterson did not appear in the Netflix documentary and this is the first time followers of the case have an insight into who she was.
Vermignon explained: "I think the other thing, which is very important, and I think what the viewers will also experience is the fact that when we talk about true crime stories, sometimes people forget about the victim, about the person who actually died.
"We are obsessed about who did it, did he do it or not relating to Michael Peterson but Kathleen Peterson is a real character in the TV drama and it's very important to talk about the victim, as a person that the kids lost in that story, that is a tragedy. And I think that Antonio Campos [director], did like the fantastic work about make us spending time discussing Kathleen Peterson as an actual person."
The Staircase is streaming on HBO Max now.
