Wondery and Los Angeles Times podcast Dirty John was the basis for the first season of Bravo’s series of the same name. While Connie Britton and Eric Bana brilliantly brought the twisted love story of Debra Newell and John Meehan to life, there was no way for the tale of this “dirty John” to continue. (Spoiler alert: Meehan doesn’t make it through the first season alive.)
In its second season, Dirty John is once again giving fans a ripped-from-real-life drama of a marriage gone wrong: The trailer for season 2 of Dirty John, titled The Betty Broderick Story, just dropped, proving we may be in for an even wilder tale this time around.
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Amanda Peet plays Betty Broderick, a woman in the midst of a contentious divorce from husband Daniel Broderick (Christian Slater). In the trailer, Betty makes it clear there’s no love lost between her and Daniel, whom she claims would have treated her better if she were “a dog...serving its master.” Despite the years Betty spent raising their children, by the time Daniel turned 40, he had walked out on her “with a 19-year-old and a sports car.”
“I’m amazed it only took one bullet to kill Daniel Broderick,” Betty muses in the trailer.
Like Newell and Meehan, the Brodericks were a real couple who went through a heated divorce that rocked their wealthy community in San Diego. Their relationship devolved into a disturbing game of emotional chess, where either could make a radical move at any point. Daniel had Betty committed to a mental health facility. Betty drove her car into Daniel’s front door. Daniel withheld child support payments. Betty spray painted his house. It all ended when, in 1989, Betty shot Daniel, execution style.
“I bought into a 1950s Leave It to Beaver marriage...and [Daniel] stole my whole life,” Betty told The Los Angeles Times. “This was a desperate act of self-defence.”
What’s interesting about Betty and Daniel’s story is that, despite Betty being a confessed killer, many saw her as the victim of a terrible husband. The concept that Betty may have been “justified” to retaliate against Daniel is something that Dirty John already seems keen on exploring: Betty is the narrator of the trailer, suggesting we will be seeing at least some of the series from her point of view.
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Dirty John moves from Bravo to USA Network for its second season. No release date has been set for its second season yet.
Watch the trailer below.
The first season of Dirty John is available to watch on Netflix.