Investigation Discovery made waves last month with the announcement of their latest true crime docuseries, Hard Evidence: O.J. Is Innocent. As the title makes pretty clear, the Martin Sheen-produced series will set out to present an alternative theory to the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman—one that they believe will successfully exonerate O.J. Simpson once and for all in the court of public opinion.
Naturally, this raised more than a few eyebrows. For those questioning how Sheen and the rest of the show's creative team could believe such a thing (and why it's even necessary to prove since he was already found not guilty by a jury of his peers), Sheen has something he'd like to say.
"We got the deal, so let us make the series and then we can have that dialogue," Sheen told E! News' Sibley Scoles on the WeDay red carpet in Los Angeles on Thursday.
One of the project's most vocal opponents has been lead prosecutor in the Simpson trial, Marcia Clark. Appearing on the Today show on Tuesday, she wrote the series off as "very offensive." "I actually know the theory and what they're basing it on, and it's nonsense," she added. "There's nothing to it."
When asked about Clark's comments, Sheen simply said, "She doesn't know what we're going to present."
In all fairness, it seems like she does. "They are aiming at Jason Simpson [O.J.'s son,]" she said on Today. "That is to me the most hideous thing you could possibly do. He was very close to Nicole, he loved her."
Hard Evidence: O.J. Is Innocent will be largely based on Texas PI William C. Dear's book OJ Is Innocent and I Can Prove It, which the author alleges presents "never-before-seen evidence," as well as an alternative theory to what actually happened that horrific night in Brentwood.
Sheen, who will narrate, said when the series was announced that he hopes it can answer three questions: "What if there were enough evidence that proved O.J. Simpson did not murder his ex-wife Nicole or Ron Goldman? What if the real killer were still at large? And finally, what if a grand jury convened to reconsider the case based on new evidence?"
Interest in the Simpson case is at an all-time high thanks to FX's highly successful anthology series The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story, which just concluded its 10-episode run this week. This summer, a second series examining the story, O.J.: Made in America, will air in five parts on ESPN.
Will you be tuning in to Hard Evidence: O.J. Is Innocent when it debuts in 2017?