Spoiler alert: This story includes details from episodes of Season 1 of "The Hunting Wives."
When "The Hunting Wives" dropped on Netflix on a quiet Monday, July 21, showrunner Rebecca Cutter was hopeful but held her breath. She knew the series was special with all the right ingredients for a summer binge, including its juicy and intriguing storyline, but at the end of the day, it’s always the audiences that call the shots.
"I let myself fantasize that maybe it would be (a hit) because I knew it was special when we were making it," Cutter told USA TODAY over Zoom on Thursday, July 31. "I knew it was pretty juicy, the chemistry and performances good, but I never wanted to put the cart before the horse. I never really let myself think about going to number one."
But when the show hit number four on Netflix's Top 10 in less than a week, Cutter said she had a feeling it could happen.
"It's been just really so exciting," she said.
Malin Åkerman as Margo Banks and Dermot Mulroney as Jed Banks in "The Hunting Wives."
Kent Smith
The series, adapted from May Cobb's best-selling 2021 novel of the same name, follows Sophie O’Neil (Brittany Snow), who moves from Boston with her family following a traumatic incident to a small East Texas town. Once there, she finds herself pulled into seductive socialite Margo Banks' (Malin Åkerman) exclusive circle of affluent girlfriends, known as the Hunting Wives.
While it's all fun, games and guns initially, things quickly spiral out of control when the body of a young girl, Abby (Madison Wolfe), is found, sending shockwaves throughout the small community, with Sophie, Margo and the Hunting Wives finding themselves entangled in the mystery.
"Underneath the Southern charm lies a world of temptation and dangerous liaisons," the series synopsis says. "Margo's magnetic charm and the group's intoxicating allure awaken Sophie’s dormant passions, leading her down a treacherous path lined with jealousy, deadly suspicion, and murder."
When Cutter was approached by the show's executive producer, Erwin Stoff, who had reached out to her with Cobb's novel, she devoured the book, reading it in "pretty much one sitting on a plane." Cutter, who was in contract with Lionsgate, had previously developed "Hightown," which was also a success.
"I loved how juicy it was. I loved how horny it was," Cutter said about Cobb's novel.
View |17 Photos
Save Our Shows 2025: Which TV shows are renewed or canceled?
It's decision time for the broadcast networks as several shows get the ax and others get a reprieve. Find out the status of your favorites.
Book vs. series
While the book laid out the groundwork for the series, Cutter decided to carve her own path for the show. She started by taking a trip down to Texas, where she met Cobb and her best friend from high school, and the trio visited a bunch of small towns in the state, soaking in the culture and surroundings.
One of the things that struck Cutter was the easy gun culture in the Lone Star State.
"I was surprised by how comfortable and how many guns there were," Cutter said. "Even though I knew that was in the book, but being there, I was like, 'Oh, it's just like, everybody has it all the time. And that's considered totally normal.'"
Cutter said she "leaned into how fun it was," and practiced a few shots herself with an AR-15 and handgun to "see what the fun is".
One of the major differences between the book and the series is the identity of Abby's killer. In the book, Jill (played by Katie Lowe in the series) kills Abby, while in the show, Abby is killed by Margo after the former finds out her boyfriend Brad Thompson (George Ferrier) impregnated Margo, with whom he was having a secret affair.
Comments
Post a Comment