From 'Love Story' to 'Dahmer,' can Ryan Murphy keep rewriting the past?

Kelly Lawler, USA TODAYThu, March 12, 2026 at 7:35 PM UTC

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Daryl Hannah has some issues with Ryan Murphy. And she's far from the only one.

The actress and star of films like "Splash" (1984) and the "Kill Bill" franchise (2003 and 2005) wrote a scathing op-ed in The New York Times March 6 decrying Murphy's latest buzzy TV show, "Love Story: JFK Jr. and Carolyn Bessette." Hannah, who was in a relationship with John F. Kennedy, Jr. prior to Bessette, has major issues with the way the series depicted her, as portrayed by young actress Dree Hemingway.

"I have generally chosen not to respond to media coverage of me," Hannah, 65, writes. "But a recent tragedy-exploiting television series about John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette features a character using my name and presents her as me. The choice to portray her as irritating, self-absorbed, whiny and inappropriate was no accident."

The real Daryl Hannah, left, at the 2025 Academy Awards. Dree Hemingway (right), portraying a fictionalized version of Hannah in FX's "Love Story: John F. Kennedy, Jr. and Carolyn Bessette."

"The character 'Daryl Hannah' portrayed in the series is not even a remotely accurate representation of my life, my conduct or my relationship with John. ... I have never used cocaine in my life or hosted cocaine-fueled parties. I have never pressured anyone into marriage. I have never desecrated any family heirloom or intruded upon anyone's private memorial. I have never planted any story in the press. I never compared Jacqueline Onassis' death to a dog's."

Hannah goes on to point out an interview with the series' producer Nina Jacobsen, who reasoned that Hannah had to be portrayed in an unflattering light for narrative reasons, because she's an "adversary" to the titular couple's romance. In essence, Hannah argues, she got the villain edit.

Having watched eight out of nine episodes of "Love Story," I tend to agree with Hannah about how the series chooses to frame her character. It feels dirty, like a deliberate character assassination or smear campaign. Maybe this time, Murphy and his fellow producers have gone too far.

More: What it took to bring JFK Jr. and Carolyn's 'Love Story' back to life

"Love Story" is just the latest of Murphy's ripped-from-the-headlines dramas that has garnered steep criticism from the real life people portrayed and their families. And while many shows and films are "based on a true story," Murphy in particular has a controversial knack for sensationalizing emotionally perilous moments from recent American history that trigger his real-life subjects to set the record straight. (No one was very upset about, say, classic films like "All the Presidents' Men" turning journalists into heroes or Disney depicting the 1980 men's Olympic hockey team in "Miracle.") As the number of Murphy critics piles up faster than the number of shows he can create, it's worth wondering: How long can this go on?

From a purely legal standpoint, Murphy can do almost whatever he wants when creating these series.

"The First Amendment and freedom of speech give filmmakers a lot of latitude in making movies or television shows about actual events and real people," says Los Angeles entertainment attorney Tre Lovell, owner of The Lovell Firm. "They don’t have to get the permission of whomever they are depicting."

"The creator has the right to invent characters and dramatize and fictionalize certain elements of the story," adds Alex Yousefzadeh, partner at Donaldson Callif Perez LLP. Filmmakers "can legally create composite characters based on actual people, timelines may be rearranged and events can be reimagined."

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But there are limits, of course. "They are not allowed to defame anyone, use private facts or information about that person that are not widely known or in the public domain, or somehow imply that the person endorses the show without the person’s consent," Lovell says.

But there are limits that also go beyond the law. Murphy and his collaborators, whether at Netflix or FX and Hulu under the Disney corporate umbrella, are trying to sell their stories to the public. And if the court of public opinion turns, they could lose the very thing their sensationalized TV shows are trying to achieve.

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Referring to the second season of Murphy's Netflix series, "Monster," about Erik and Lyle Menendez, writer Jeffrey Berrios in 2024 questioned if audiences were turning on Murphy's lurid distortion of the truth, particularly as his productions appeared to exploit victims of crime or imply sexual relationships. (Season two implied an incestuous connection between the two brothers.)

Nicholas Chavez as Lyle Menendez and Cooper Koch as Erik Menendez in "Monsters: The Lyle And Erik Menendez Story."

"The backlash has almost become bigger than the show and has shifted into the questioning of Murphy’s character," wrote in Corsair magazine. The latest "Monster" installment, which debuted in 2025 about serial killer Ed Gein, had a dismal 41% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

The backlash Berrios refers to has been building for a decade. It goes all the way back to 2016's "American Crime Story: The People vs. O.J. Simpson," the Emmy-winning crime drama that heralded a decade of Murphy adaptations of real life events. (Murphy first made his name in Hollywood creating fully fictional, over-the-top shows like "Nip/Tuck," "Glee" and "American Horror Story.") Families of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman, who Simpson was accused of murdering, called out the show for a "lack of respect" to the victims of the central crime. Season 2, about the killing of fashion magnate Gianni Versace, saw his family similarly derisive of the show, saying at the time, "this TV series should only be considered as a work of fiction."

"Monster" has drawn similar backlash, especially in response to a 2022 season about serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer. Family members of Dahmer's victims, including Eric Perry, a relative of Dahmer victim Errol Lindsey, were outraged by the show. Perry said in a September 2022 statement that it was "retraumatizing." Season 3, about Erik and Lyle Menendez, received criticism from the brothers themselves. And "Love Story" has haters from multiple corners: In addition to Hannah's rebuke, Jack Schlossberg, Kennedy's nephew, called it "grotesque."

Evan Peters as Jeffrey Dahmer in "Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story," a Netflix series produced by Ryan Murphy.

While the relatives of men brutally murdered by one of the most notorious serial killers in history are detailing their pain in statements, Murphy, Netflix and everyone else involved in his shows are profiting. Murphy's deal with the streamer, which has included three seasons of "Monster" so far, was worth an estimated $300 million. Now back making shows for FX, Hulu and parent company Disney ("Love Story" plays on FX and Hulu), his shows court Emmy nominations, audience views and ultimately, major revenue for the corporation.

"From an ethical lens, most people would agree that harming or retraumatizing survivors of any crime is wrong and unacceptable," says Yousefzadeh, the lawyer, while acknowledging that Murphy doesn't have a legal problem here. "A producer should always be mindful of how to respectfully tell a story based on facts, and the ethical implications of involving survivors should certainly be a part of the calculus."

It's worth noting that Murphy is a producer of "Love Story" but not the main creator − that's Connor Hines (Murphy is a co-creator of "Monster" and a producer of "American Crime Story"). He's also far from the only creator in Hollywood to take flack for a loose relationship with the truth. Hulu's 2022 miniseries "Pam and Tommy," about the romance between Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee with a heavy empahasis on the sex tape released without their consent, was created by Robert Siegel and produced by Seth Rogen among others, and has drawn fierce criticism from Anderson. Four years later, at the 2026 Golden Globes, Anderson said she felt "weird" and "yucky" being in the same room as Rogen.

Paul Anthony Kelly as John F. Kennedy Jr. and Dree Hemingway as Daryl Hannah in "Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette."

But Murphy has made it is personal brand to capitalize on these huge moments in our cultural history, be they horrific true crime, tabloid fodder or love and tragedy, and twist them into something emotionally manipulative and voyeuristic. Many may complain, but audiences keep tuning in in huge numbers. Is he telling authentic human stories or titillating audiences hungry for more death, drama, destruction and despair?

That hunger may make us all complicit. There are ways to tell these stories without exploitation and harm, like 2022 Peacock series "A Friend of the Family," which is about something as awful as childhood sexual abuse, but was done in conjunction with the survivor, who wanted to tell her own story. Nuanced and graceful, "Friend" stands in direct opposition of "Monster," which debuted around the same time.

And yet, these fictionalized stories have real-life consequences. Hannah detailed threatening messages she has received in the weeks since "Love Story" debuted on FX. "When entertainment borrows a real person’s name, it can permanently impact her reputation," she writes.

How many more reputations can these TV shows ruin? Murphy shows no signs of slowing down his prolific Hollywood efforts: A fourth "Monster," about Lizzie Borden and starring Ella Beatty, is already in the works, among many future projects. Will we, perhaps eventually eventually, realize maybe we shouldn't be so cavalier with the stories of our fellow humans?

We'll find out a few dozen Murphy TV limited series from now.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'Love Story' to 'Dahmer' – Can Ryan Murphy keep rewriting the past?

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