NEED TO KNOW

• Netflix's four-part Dynasty: The Murdochs premieres March 13 with thousands of pages of private emails, texts and documents never before seen on television
• The docuseries arrives while the Murdoch family trust lawsuit remains unresolved after a Nevada court found Rupert and Lachlan acted in "bad faith"
• Netflix is profiling the same family whose network it now directly competes against for advertising dollars and cultural influence

NEW YORK, NY (TDR) — Netflix released the first trailer Thursday for Dynasty: The Murdochs, a four-part documentary series chronicling the internal power struggle inside the family that controls Fox News, The Wall Street Journal and a global media empire spanning three continents.

The series premieres March 13. What most coverage won't tell you is the competitive subtext: Netflix is now a direct rival to Fox in the fight for advertising revenue, live sports audiences and cultural real estate — and it's producing a documentary designed to expose the internal mechanics of a competitor's parent company.

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What The Series Promises

Directed by two-time Academy Award nominee Liz Garbus — the filmmaker behind Netflix's record-breaking Harry & Meghan docuseries — the project is produced by Story Syndicate, which has become one of the streamer's most reliable documentary partners.

The series claims access to thousands of pages of documents, emails and text messages never before seen on television. It features interviews with journalists who covered the family's legal battles, including New York Times reporters Jim Rutenberg and Jonathan Mahler, NPR's David Folkenflik, tech journalist Kara Swisher and former Fox News employees.

"It reads like an episode of Succession." — Trailer commentary, Dynasty: The Murdochs

The official logline frames the project around a central question: "Is a dynasty a family or a business?" For the Murdochs, the series argues, the two have never been separate.

The Trust Battle Netflix Is Documenting

The timing is no accident. The docuseries arrives with the Murdoch family trust lawsuit still unresolved and likely heading to appeal.

In December 2024, Nevada Probate Commissioner Edmund Gorman Jr. ruled against Rupert Murdoch's attempt to rewrite his irrevocable family trust. The trust — established in 1999 — divides control equally among his four eldest children upon his death: Lachlan, James, Elisabeth and Prudence MacLeod.

Rupert wanted that changed. He petitioned the court to consolidate all voting power under Lachlan, his eldest son and ideological heir, arguing it was necessary to preserve Fox News' conservative editorial direction — and therefore its commercial value.

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Gorman's 96-page ruling was devastating.

"A carefully crafted charade to permanently cement Lachlan Murdoch's executive roles regardless of the impacts such control would have over the companies or the beneficiaries." — Commissioner Edmund Gorman Jr.

James, Elisabeth and Prudence — who hold more moderate political views than their father or brother — welcomed the ruling. James notably endorsed Kamala Harris for president in 2024 and resigned from the News Corp board in 2020 over editorial disagreements. A spokesperson for the three siblings expressed hope that the family could "move beyond this litigation to focus on strengthening and rebuilding relationships."

Rupert's attorney, Adam Streisand, said his client was disappointed and intended to appeal.

The Competitive Angle No One's Discussing

Here's the part the entertainment press glosses over: Netflix isn't just documenting a media dynasty — it's profiling a competitor.

Netflix now competes directly with Fox for live sports broadcasting — a market Fox has dominated for decades. It competes for advertising dollars in the same marketplace. And it competes for the cultural influence that comes with shaping how hundreds of millions of people understand news, politics and entertainment.

A documentary that exposes the private dysfunction of the family controlling your chief competitor in the political media space isn't just journalism. It's also business strategy.

That doesn't make the documentary dishonest — Garbus is an acclaimed filmmaker with a track record of substantive work. But the competitive incentive deserves acknowledgment that it rarely receives.

The broader pattern is instructive. Fox's $787.5 million settlement with Dominion Voting Systems in 2023 — the largest media defamation settlement in U.S. history — exposed internal communications showing hosts and executives privately dismissing election fraud claims they aired publicly. That cache of discovery documents gave documentarians a foundation of primary source material. The trust lawsuit proceedings, conducted behind sealed doors in Reno, reportedly generated more.

Netflix is packaging all of it for a global audience of 300 million subscribers — and the Murdochs appear unable to stop it. When Netflix first approached the family, eldest daughter Elisabeth turned down an interview. Lachlan reportedly considered participation before the rest of the family pulled back.

When a streaming giant profiles the family behind its biggest competitor in live broadcasting, using documents that competitor fought to keep sealed, is the result accountability journalism — or corporate warfare dressed as documentary filmmaking? And does the answer matter if the documents are real?

Sources

This report was compiled using information from The Hollywood Reporter, What's on Netflix, NPR, CNN, PBS NewsHour, Deadline, Al Jazeera, Guido Fawkes, court records from the Nevada Second Judicial District, and background on the Dominion Voting Systems settlement.

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