Who is Sophie Brunet and what is her role in the Michael Peterson case? The Staircase episode 6 is set to explore the investigation

The budding relationship between editor Sophie Brunet and murder convict Michael Peterson has been one of the most pivotal points of the fifth episode of HBO's The Staircase.

Their relationship will be further explored in the upcoming episode now that Michael is behind bars and letters are being exchanged between him and the editor.

The episode is set to premiere on HBO Max this Thursday, May 26, 2022, at 3.00 am ET. Here is the official synopsis of Episode 6,

"In 2001, an ill-fated Thanksgiving leaves Kathleen stressed. Five years later, Sophie launches her own investigation."

In episode five of HBO Max's drama series, Brunet is portrayed working on documentary editing while in a relationship with Peterson. The original documentary's creators on Netflix have recently come forward to express their displeasure with HBO, seemingly distorting the timeline of their relationship.

According to de Lestrade, Brunet, and others engaged with the project- Brunet and Peterson did not begin corresponding until after she quit the documentary project in 2004. Let's look at the reality of the relationship that is being explored in the acclaimed show.

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The Staircase Episode 6: Exploring Sophie Brunet's role in the Michael Peterson case

Michael Peterson was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of release on October 10, 2003, for the murder of his wife, Kathleen Peterson. The latter was found dead at the bottom of the stairwell of their family home two years ago. He was detained at North Carolina's Nash Correctional Institution but has maintained his innocence throughout the investigation.

When Peterson was first charged with the crime, a French documentary crew led by Jean-Xavier de Lestrade began filming. Following his sentencing, an eight-episode docu-series on his case was released in 2004.

Sophie Brunet, the series editor, wrote Peterson a letter from prison around the time of the original documentary's premiere. Brunet reportedly examined 750 hours of tape while working on The Staircase in Paris, getting to know Peterson's behavior, connections, and emotional issues.

His kindness, love for his children and anguish at his wife's death moved her; she told Le Monde. Seeing him cry over Kathleen's death convinced her that he wasn't the one who had killed her.

What started as a long-distance correspondence turned into a thirteen-year romance. From 2004 through 2017, Sophie Brunet and Peterson dated for about 13 years. While he was away, they began communicating by exchanging letters. She even told Variety,

“I was affected by the cruelty [of his life sentence] and what I saw as a miscarriage of justice. So I decided to write Michael to offer to send him some books—which I did relentlessly while he was in jail.”

During their connection, Brunet visited Peterson three to four times a year and donated to Peterson's legal fund. While Brunet was intimately associated with Peterson in 2011, she edited the first two additional episodes.

Peterson was released in 2017 after entering an Alford plea, and his connection with Sophie ended soon after when he realized he couldn't abandon his children and relocate to Paris to be with her.

Brunet remained professionally sound and edited the later episodes after breaking up, which premiered on Netflix in 2018. That same year, De Lestrade commented on their relationship as they told L'Express,

"It is one of the incredible things that happened during those 15 years. Life is really full of surprises… But she never let her own feelings affect the course of editing.”

Brunet believes Kathleen Peterson died due to lacerations in her scalp caused by an earlier owl attack to this day.

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Don't forget to catch Episode 6 of The Staircase, which premieres on HBO Max on Thursday, May 26, 2022, at 3.00 am ET.