When Octavia Spencer, narrator and executive producer of the Investigation Discovery Channel's three-part documentary "« Lost Women of Alaska, When she decided to take part in creating the story of indigenous women living on the margins of society and who became victims of serial killer Brian Steven Smith, she had the main goal: "To restore the dignity of these women in solidarity with them and their families.".
«"I can't imagine what it's like when a family member goes missing and you don't know what happened to them," Spencer said while discussing the series at Deadline's Contenders Television: Documentary event. "So we want to provide closure—in some cases, justice… I was particularly struck by the number: over 1,300 Indigenous women are missing. 1300. But it's an alarming figure, considering the film begins by saying, "Alaska is a hotbed of serial killers.".
More news from Deadline
-
Deadline Contenders, a television project featuring a documentary and a live non-fiction broadcast. Themes: oceans, monsters, and subways.
-
Deadline is launching a reality TV summit in Los Angeles featuring stars, buyers, producers, and creators of non-fiction projects.
-
Sean Evans, Brittany Broski, Michelle Hare, Karim Rahma, Julian Shapiro-Barnum, and Cleo Abram on Forging Their Way as YouTube Content Creators - Conenders TV: Documentaries & Non-Fiction
Executive producer Matt Robins says the film details how South African-born Smith believed he would never be caught until a woman saw the twisted, disturbing videos he made of his victims and reported them to police.
RELATED: Documentary and Non-Fiction Competition Shows - Full Coverage from Deadline
«"It's really the story of a group of women who are essentially being snatched off the streets by a predator who feels unpunished and confident that these crimes will go unpunished," Robins said. "So, on the one hand, you can watch the documentary series as a classic detective thriller, where you're following the mystery of who's kidnapping women, who's responsible, and will they be caught? I think the more important second aspect of this series has always been how our society tends to fail women—and in this case, Indigenous women, women in prostitution, homeless people. This man knows he can prey on these streets and target these women because he genuinely believes he can get away with it.".
He explained, "When this story first came to us, it was brought to us by a wonderful producer, Christina Douglas, who is of Native descent. This story is very personal to her. The statistic she gave me when she first spoke to us about this case was that Alaska Native women are 10 times more likely to be murdered than white women in Alaska. So there really is a crisis in this region. And it was really, really inspiring and exciting for us to be able to dive into this story and tell it the way we did.".
RELATED NEWS: Deadline Launches Its Streaming Site, Contenders Television
Speaking about the underlying cultural flaws that played a role in the murders she and her previous 2023 series,« Lost Women of Highway 20» , Spencer said: "I think there's systemic racism, [and] I think more broadly, misogyny. The fact that we have enough material to call a series «Lost Women» and making multiple seasons about different missing women is indicative and, I think, symbolic of a larger problem in society. So I think there's a lot at play here, misogyny. And when it comes to Indigenous women, there's this perception of, "Nobody's looking for them; they don't have families.".
Spencer said that under the auspices «Lost Women» «"There will definitely be many more stories to tell. "Unfortunately, in our society and around the world, there are so many women who have gone missing," she explained. "It's a common phenomenon, quite common in our society. And, unfortunately, we created a series called «Lost Women» , and, unfortunately, so many voices need to be restored. And we are happy to do this work.".
Watch the video of the discussion above.
Editor's Note: This article was originally published on April 25 as part of Deadline's Contenders TV event.
The Best of Deadline
-
Premiere dates for new and returning series on broadcast, streaming, and cable channels in 2026
-
The Good Girl's Guide to Murder Soundtrack: All the Songs You'll Hear in Both Seasons.
-
The 25 Highest-Grossing Animated Films of All Time at the World Box Office
Subscribe to the Deadline newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. .