Copyright Screen Rant
Warning: the following contains spoilers for Only Murder in the Building season 5 finale. Only Murders in the Building show creator John Hoffman breaks down the season 5 killer reveal and new murder tease. Released on October 28, the 10th and final episode of season 5 solved the mystery behind Arconia doorman Lester's murder while unveiling a shocking new victim for season 6, which has been officially confirmed by Hulu. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Hoffman shed some light on how they decided on season 6's victim. In season 5 finale, Cinda Canning was found dead outside the grand entrance gates of the Arconia building after investigating a murder in the UK. The show creator explained that Cinda was the core inspiration for the trio to create a true-crime podcast: This whole season has been asking some central questions about the location of the building and what got them involved in all of this. It’s a season where we’re looking at: What does the home mean to us? How much do we defend the home? How far have we come together as a trio after five seasons? Unbelievable to say that, but after five seasons, we land with this trio solving all these murders and hitting a new level of care about what got started five years ago in relation to the family that was built in their building and among the trio. So we’re going back to the origin point, again, for the trio. What brought them together in the first place? It was a Cinda Canning affection and a particular affection around one true crime podcast she was doing at the moment they all met that both inspired them and got them rolling into this direction. There was a lot about looking at where we are going to be setting our next season, and thinking about the origins of storytelling around crime and mysteries and murder mysteries, cozy murder mysteries. All of a sudden, it all came together as wanting to look at origins for both the storytelling nature of what is at the source [of the detective genre] through the Agatha Christies and Arthur Conan Doyles and on and on, and on to podcasting today and that line between them, and what that might hold as fertile ground for next season beyond the incredible character that Tina Fey created for us that got this ball rolling. With Cinda being the trio's rivalry, her murder also meant that Mabel, Oliver, and Charles are ruling the true-crime podcast space. Hoffman shared that season 6 would further explore "the legacy of this endeavor of storytelling" while keeping the plot centered on the trio. Read his comment below: No question. With Cinda, we have someone in the lexicon of the show who is the beginning of the legacy for our trio. How does that extend further for the legacy of this endeavor of storytelling within this realm of murder mystery? All of that felt steeped in great history for the show and this kind of storytelling. I’m insanely stoked about an extra charge behind the ideas and the writing while also keeping very, very central who this trio is and where they come from, but being able to supercharge the season next year with some really new elements that feel well-timed. The last episode of season 5 revealed that Mayor Beau Tillman was the person responsible for Lester's death. With the episode dropped one week before the New York mayoral election, Hoffman shared that they "certainly thought about New York politics" and "aimed" at the headlines. Read his comment below: You’re right about that. (Laughs.) It hit me more recently. We certainly thought about New York politics. We thought about New York today and, more than anything in season five, we aimed ourselves at the headlines, right at a casino bid that’s being presented right now in New York, and looking at all of the nature of power in New York as a central tenet of what we were aiming to explore in a our kind of ridiculous way. That all felt like a fresh take. What does all of New York power look like right now and how do we put all the power players in the mix of this building with its unusual history? It felt exciting to do that and keep it specifically New York flavor. Lo and behold, the headlines kept supporting it up until literally today. More to come...
