Content warning: The following story contains spoilers for “Only Murders in the Building.”
The final episode of “Only Murders in the Building” season two may have wrapped up who killed Bunny, but it left us with a brand-new mystery for the show’s third installment.
At the end of the season two finale, Oliver (Martin Short) is asked to direct a new play on Broadway. He says yes, and we jump a year forward to the opening night. Oliver is trying to appease his star, Ben Glenroy, played by none other than Paul Rudd! Ben is pissed at someone he refers to as a “f*ckbag,” and he asks Oliver if the person has apologized yet. Oliver doesn’t take sides but tells him to use his anger in his performance.
We soon realize who Ben was talking about: his costar, Charles (Steve Martin). The two, both wearing matching detective costumes, get into a fight on the stage. Charles warns Ben: “Be smart. Stay away from her,” and then ominously says, “I know what you did.”
In the audience, Oliver, Mabel (Selena Gomez), Lucy (Zoe Colletti), and Joy (Andrea Martin) are all excited for the show to begin and glad to have made it a year with no drama. But moments after the curtain rises, Ben drops dead to the seeming shock of everyone involved.
The first two episodes of season three premiered on Hulu on Aug. 8, so we finally have some clues as to what went down and who could be responsible for Ben’s murder. We also finally learn the name of the play — “Death Rattle” — and some of its absurd plot, in which an infant is accused of killing a woman. But perhaps most shockingly, viewers learn Ben actually survived his apparent on-stage poisoning and was later killed at the Arconia, when someone threw him down the elevator shaft. Could there potentially be two different killers? Who had access to both his dressing room and the hotel?
In episode three, which premiered on Aug. 15, Charles thinks the hankies that Ben gave the cast could prove who the killer is, while Mabel and Tobert (Jesse Williams) get their hands on footage of Ben right before his death, in which he’s arguing with someone (or something). And in episode four, released on Aug. 22, Charles once again wonders if he’s dating a murderer. In episode five, which arrived on Aug. 29, the suspect list grows even more, with quite a few characters dropping incriminating clues. And in episode six, released Sept. 5, Oliver, Mabel, and Charles revisit the theater to do some more digging.
So, who killed Ben in “Only Murders in the Building”? Read on for the full list of suspects so far and what evidence we have of their guilt.