Unbelievable (miniseries)

Did You Know?

• The series is based on the 2008–2011 Washington and Colorado serial rape cases.
• The article "An Unbelievable Story of Rape" won a Pulitzer Prize.
• A This American Life radio episode titled "Anatomy of Doubt" was published concurrently with the article.

Cast and characters

Toni Collette portrays Det. Grace Rasmussen, a Westminster Police Department detective inspired by Edna Hendershot. Merritt Wever plays Det. Karen Duvall, a Golden Police Department detective inspired by Stacy Galbraith.

Kaitlyn Dever appears as Marie Adler, a survivor of sexual assault. Eric Lange is Det. Parker, a Lynnwood Police Department detective inspired by Sergeant Jeffrey Mason, and Bill Fagerbakke plays Det. Pruitt, also assigned to Marie's case and inspired by Jerry Rittgarn.

Elizabeth Marvel portrays Judith, Marie's most recent foster mother inspired by Peggy Cunningham, while Bridget Everett plays Colleen Doggett, a former foster mother inspired by Shannon McQuery. Danielle Macdonald appears as Amber, a victim of sexual assault. Dale Dickey plays RoseMarie, a veteran detective at the Westminster Police Department. Liza Lapira is Mia, a police surveillance expert, and Omar Maskati plays Elias, RoseMarie's data analyst intern.

Austin Hébert portrays Max Duvall, Karen's husband and a Westminster police officer. Kai Lennox plays Steve Rasmussen, Grace's husband and an investigator with the Attorney General's office. Blake Ellis appears as Chris McCarthy, the serial rapist inspired by Marc Patrick O'Leary, and Aaron Staton plays his brother Curtis McCarthy, inspired by Michael O'Leary. Other cast members include Patricia Fa'asua, Charlie McDermott, Brent Sexton, Annaleigh Ashford, Scott Lawrence, Shane Paul McGhie, Hendrix Yancey, Nick Searcy, Brooke Smith, John Billingsley, Vanessa Bell Calloway, and Tom Amandes.

Production

Netflix ordered Unbelievable on January 22, 2018, from Timberman/Beverly Productions and CBS Television Studios. Executive producers included Susannah Grant, Michael Chabon, Ayelet Waldman, Sarah Timberman, Carl Beverly, and Katie Couric. The eight-episode miniseries is based on the ProPublica and Marshall Project article "An Unbelievable Story of Rape" by T. Christian Miller and Ken Armstrong, and also draws from the related book A False Report. Grant served as showrunner and wrote for the series alongside Chabon and Waldman. Toni Collette, Merritt Wever, and Kaitlyn Dever were cast in June 2018, with additional cast members added in July, August, and September 2018.

Reception

On Rotten Tomatoes, Unbelievable holds a 98% approval rating based on 84 reviews, with an average rating of 8.7/10. The critical consensus states: "Heartbreaking and powerful, Unbelievable transcends familiar true-crime beats by shifting its gaze to survivors of abuse, telling their stories with grace and gravity." On Metacritic, it has a weighted average score of 83 out of 100 from 25 critics, indicating universal acclaim. Netflix announced on October 17, 2019, that the miniseries had been viewed by over 32 million viewers.