Watch the full trailer for ‘Love & Death,’ HBO Max’s new Candy Montgomery show

In a little over a month, a new show about Candace “Candy” Montgomery, the Dallas-area woman who was accused of killing her friend Betty Gore with an ax in 1980, debuts on HBO Max.

HBO Max’s “Love & Death” premieres on April 27 and its log line reads, “Two churchgoing couples enjoy small town family life in Texas — until somebody picks up an axe.”

A teaser trailer in February showed a sneak peek at the series, but now a full trailer has been released on the harrowing North Texas story.

The trailer depicts Montgomery (Elizabeth Olsen) wanting something more in life, leading to her marital affair with Allan Gore (Jesse Plemons). The nearly three-minute trailer ends with Montgomery in legal hot water after being accused of killing her friend Betty Gore (Lily Rabe).

Patrick Fugit rounds out the cast as Pat Montgomery, the husband Candy cheated on.

The limited series is based on the book “Evidence of Love: A True Story of Passion and Death in the Suburbs” by Jim Atkinson and Joe Bob Briggs, and a series of Texas Monthly articles. “Love & Death” was created by David E. Kelly and directed by Lesli Linka Glatter.

This is the second television adaption of the Montgomery case in as many years. Hulu’s “Candy” starring Jessica Biel in the titular role, first made its way to the small screen in May 2022.

What happened in the Candy Montgomery case?

Gore, 30, was a school teacher and friends with Montgomery. The two had met through church and they both sang in the same choir.

Gore had two children, the youngest a year old, at the time of her death. Montgomery had an affair with Gore’s husband, Allan, a year before the killing.

On June 13, 1980, a Friday, Montgomery stopped by Betty Gore’s Wylie home to pick up a swimsuit for Gore’s daughter, who was set to spend the day with Montgomery. While at the house, Gore confronted Montgomery about the affair with her husband. Later that day, Gore was found dead with 41 axe wounds in a blood-spattered utility room.

After she was accused of the murder, Montgomery turned herself in to Collin County Sheriff’s deputies and was held on a $100,000 bond. Four months after the killing, an eight-day trial was held in McKinney to determine Montgomery’s guilt in Gore’s murder.

Montgomery pleaded self-defense and her lawyer argued that Gore had grabbed a 3-foot ax from the garage and approached Montgomery with it. Montgomery’s lawyer also brought in a Houston psychiatrist who said Montgomery had suffered from a “dissociative reaction” and was unaware of how many times she struck Gore.

A jury acquitted Montgomery of murder charges on Oct. 29, 1980. One juror said the number of times Gore was struck had no bearing on their verdict, which accepted the self-defense claim.