New ABC News Studios Docu-Series ‘Never Let Him Go’ Unearths a Haunting Tale of Anti-Gay Violence and One Brother’s Decades-Long Quest for Justice

When authorities found Scott Johnson’s body at the rocky base of a cliff in Australia in 1988, they declared his death a suicide. The gay American mathematician’s tragic demise and the murky circumstances surrounding it set his older brother Steve Johnson’s decades-long pursuit for answers in motion. “Never Let Him Go,” a new docu-series from ABC News Studios, paints an intimate portrait of Scott’s life and untimely death through never-before-seen evidence from the investigation, personal home videos and rare archival footage from 1980s’ Sydney. As Steve’s probe gained international attention, it sparked a public reckoning in Australia, shedding new light on a pattern of violence against the LGBTQ+ community.

While the series was in production, the filmmakers captured a breakthrough in real-time: 35 years after Scott’s death, his killer confessed and was sentenced in June of this year in the New South Wales Supreme Court. The series features an interview with Helen White, the confessed killer’s ex-wife, who breaks her silence for the first time after tipping off the police. The docu-series also features exclusive in-depth interviews with Steve and his family and first-ever interviews with key law enforcement officials who worked on the case. Over four episodes, “Never Let Him Go” traces the intense journey to cracking Scott’s case. With dozens of similar unsolved cases involving gay men in Australia, Steve has been left to decide if his search for justice was complete — or if it had just begun. “Never Let Him Go” begins streaming on Wednesday, Sept. 6, only on Hulu.

“Never Let Him Go” is produced by Show of Force and Blackfella Films for ABC News Studios. Jeff Dupre and Maro Chermayeff are executive producers, and Saralena Weinfield is series producer for Show of Force. Darren Dale and Jacob Hickey are executive producers for Blackfella Films. “Never Let Him Go” is directed by Jeff Dupre and Jacob Hickey. David Sloan is senior executive producer, and Beth Hoppe is executive producer for ABC News Studios. ABC News Studios is led by Mike Kelley, and Reena Mehta is the SVP of Streaming and Digital Content.

About ABC News Studios

ABC News Studios, inspired by ABC News’ trusted reporting, is a premium news and documentary original production house and commissioning partner of series and specials. ABC News Studios champions untold and authentic stories driving the cultural zeitgeist spanning true-crime, investigations, pop culture and news-adjacent stories. ABC News Studios’ original titles include critically acclaimed documentaries “Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields,” “The Lady Bird Diaries,” and “Aftershock” docu-series, including “Killing County,” “Wild Crime,” “Mormon No More,” “The Randall Scandal: Love, Loathing, and Vanderpump,” “Jelly Roll: Save Me” and “Betrayal: The Perfect Husband.”

About Show of Force
Founded in 2006 by Jeff Dupre and Maro Chermayeff, Show of Force is known for creating award-winning feature documentaries and television series. Their 2022 HBO series “Hostages” was recently nominated for three Emmy Awards, for Outstanding Historical Documentary, Writing and Research. Prior work includes “Atlanta’s Missing and Murdered,” which won the 2020 IDA Award for Best Multi-part Documentary; the Emmy and Grammy-nominated series “Soundbreaking,” created in partnership with Beatles producer Sir George Martin; “Marina Abramović: The Artist is Present,” which garnered a Peabody Award, an Emmy Award and the Audience Award at the 2012 Berlin Film Festival; and “Kehinde Wiley: An Economy of Grace,” which won the 2014 SXSW Jury Prize and was shortlisted for an Academy Award nomination.

About Blackfella Films
For over twenty years leading Australian production company Blackfella Films has created distinctive Australian content for global audiences. International awards include the BANFF International Rockie Award for Best Docu-series, MIPCOM Diversify TV’s Excellence Award for Representation of Race and Ethnicity (Scripted) and multiple New York Festivals Television & Film Gold Awards. Productions have sold to Netflix, Sundance TV/AMC, Acorn and the BBC. Unscripted credits include the changemaking “The Australian Wars” (aka “First Wars”) and “Deep Water: The Real Story” which exposed a gay hate crime epidemic. Scripted content includes “Total Control,” which premiered at TIFF, and the groundbreaking “Redfern Now.”

*COPYRIGHT ©2023 American Broadcasting Companies, Inc. All photography is copyrighted material and is for editorial use only. Images are not to be archived, altered, duplicated, resold, retransmitted or used for any other purposes without written permission of ABC News. Images are distributed to the press in order to publicize current programming. Any other usage must be licensed.

LINK: https://tinyurl.com/yck5y5vf
SHARE: https://hrefshare.com/041ea
TRAILER: https://youtu.be/XsbjfHLCPnY

 

ABC News Media Relations
Lauri Hogan | lauri.l.hogan@abc.com
Sydney Tretter | sydney.tretter@abc.com