''The Hunting Wives'' is an American

drama Drama is the specific Mode (literature), mode of fiction Mimesis, represented in performance: a Play (theatre), play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on Radio drama, radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a g ...

television series based on the novel by May Cobb. It stars

Malin Akerman Malin Maria Åkerman (born 12 May 1978), often anglicised to Malin Akerman, is a Swedish actress. She first appeared in smaller parts in both Canadian and American productions, including '' The Utopian Society'' (2003) and '' Harold & Kumar Go ...

Brittany Snow Brittany Anne Snow (born March 9, 1986) is an American actress. She came to prominence for her role in the CBS soap opera ''Guiding Light'' (1998–2001), for which she won a Young Artist Award for Best Young Actress and was nominated for two o ...

Dermot Mulroney Dermot Patrick Mulroney (born October 31, 1963) is an American actor and musician. He is known for his roles in a wide variety of genres, including romantic comedy, western, and drama films. After making his film debut in ''Sunset'' (1988), Mulro ...

, Evan Jonigkeit,

Chrissy Metz Christine Michelle Metz (born September 29, 1980) is an American actress and singer. She played Kate Pearson in the television series ''This Is Us'' (2016–2022), which earned her nominations for a Primetime Emmy Award and two Golden Globe Awa ...

Jaime Ray Newman Jaime Ray Newman (born ) is an American actress, producer and singer. She is known for starring as Kristina Cassadine in the soap opera ''General Hospital'', Mindy O'Dell in the drama series ''Veronica Mars'', Kat Gardener in the fantasy series ...

, and

Katie Lowes Katie Quinn Lowes (born September 22, 1982) is an American actress and theater director. She is best known for her role as Quinn Perkins in the ABC political drama series ''Scandal'' (2012–2018) and her portrayal of Rachel DeLoache Williams i ...

. The series premiered on

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

on July 21, 2025.

Premise

Set in Maple Brook, a fictional

East Texas East Texas is a broadly defined cultural, geographic, and ecological region in the eastern part of the U.S. state of Texas that consists of approximately 38 counties. It is roughly divided into Northeast Texas, Northeast, Southeast Texas, Sout ...

town, Sophie, a young woman and mom, falls into an affluent socialite's seductive orbit - where a circle of housewives who have dangerous secrets themselves - that culminates in her becoming a prime suspect in the death of a teenage girl.

Cast and characters

Main

as Sophie O'Neil, a woman from

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is a suburb in the Greater Boston metropolitan area, located directly across the Charles River from Boston. The city's population as of the 2020 United States census, ...

who recently moved to Maple Brook, Texas for her husband's job *

as Margo Banks, the leader of an elite socialite group of wives known as the Hunting Wives *

as Callie, the number two of the Hunting Wives and town sheriff's wife * Evan Jonigkeit as Graham O'Neil, Sophie's husband who is an architect * George Ferrier as Brad, Jill's teenage son who is having an affair with Margo *

as Jill, Brad's mother who is the wife of the reverend and a member of the Hunting Wives *

as Starr, a working class single mother whose daughter Abby is dating Brad and is not part of the elite socialite group *

as Jed Banks, Margo's wealthy husband and Graham's boss who is an oil tycoon and Texas gubernatorial candidate

Recurring

Chosen Jacobs Chosen Jacobs is an American actor, singer, songwriter, musician and rapper best known for his recurring role as Will Grover on the CBS television series '' Hawaii Five-0'' and his role as Mike Hanlon in the 2017 film adaptation of the Stephen ...

as Jamie, Brad's friend * Branton Box as Sheriff Jonny, Callie's husband *

Madison Wolfe Madison Wolfe is an American actress. She made her film debut in the adventure drama ''On the Road'' (2012) and her television debut in the HBO series ''True Detective'' (2014). She starred in the horror film ''The Conjuring 2'' (2016), and as B ...

as Abby, Brad's girlfriend and Starr's teenage daughter * Jason Davis as Reverend Clint, Jill's husband, Brad's father, and the megachurch Holy Horizon's reverend * Michael Aaron Milligan as Kyle, Margo's brother who lives in a trailer in Alba, Texas * Abigail Rhyne as Nina, Abby's friend who is a teen mother * Paul Teal as Pastor Pete, Holy Horizon's young pastor * Hunter Emery as Deputy Walter Flynn, a Sheriff's Department officer who is investigating the murder of Abby with his partner Deputy Salazar * Karen Rodriguez as Deputy Wanda Salazar, Deputy Flynn's partner at the Sheriff's Department who is investigating the murder of Abby with him

Episodes

Production

Development

In October 2023, it was announced

Starz Starz (stylized in all caps as STARZ; pronounced "stars") is an American pay television network owned by Starz Entertainment, and is the flagship property of Starz Inc. Launched in 1994 as a multiplex service of what is now Starz Encore, ...

had given the series an eight-episode order, with Rebecca Cutter set to adapt the novel of the same name by May Cobb, and serve as executive producer, and showrunner.

Lionsgate Television Lionsgate Television is the television division of the American production company Lionsgate Studios. History The company was established in July 1997 as Lions Gate Television, Inc. with the establishment of Lionsgate Films. In June 1998, it ...

and

3 Arts Entertainment 3 Arts Entertainment, formerly 3 Arts Productions, is an American film and television production company founded in 1991 by Erwin Stoff, Michael Rotenberg and Howard Klein. The company has gone on to produce television series such as ''King o ...

will produce.

Casting

In January 2024,

joined the cast of the series. In February 2024,

, and Evan Jonigkeit joined the cast. In March 2024,

, and George Ferrier joined the cast.

Filming

Pre-production began on January 18, 2024 in North Charlotte, with 18 weeks of filming shortly following.

Principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as the ...

began by March 2024, in

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

. Downtown Mooresville was turned into an East Texas city. Many surrounding locations were also used for principal photography. Production wrapped on June 2024.

Music

Jeff Danna Jeff Danna is a Canadian film composer. He has composed or co-composed scores for a wide range of films and television, including ''The Boondock Saints'' (1999), '' Resident Evil: Apocalypse'' (2004), ''Silent Hill'' (2006)'', The Imaginarium of D ...

composed the series' score.

Release

Following the spin-off of

Starz Inc. Starz Inc. is an American entertainment company and a subsidiary of Starz Entertainment. It is headquartered in Meridian, Colorado, but uses nearby Englewood as its location in corporate filings and press releases. The company owns and ope ...

into an independent company separate from

Lionsgate Studios Lionsgate Studios Corp. (simply known as Lionsgate Studios) is a Canadian-American film and television production and distribution conglomerate, domiciled in Vancouver, British Columbia, and primarily based in Santa Monica, California. It was f ...

acquired rights to ''The Hunting Wives'' back from Starz. In June 2025,

licensed U.S. rights to the series for a year, with the series premiering on the platform on July 21.

Reception

The review aggregator website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

reported an 80% approval rating based on 15 critic reviews.

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, which uses a weighted average, gave a score of 71 out of 100 based on 9 critics, indicating "generally favorable".

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hunting Wives, The 2025 American television series debuts 2020s American drama television series 2020s American LGBTQ-related drama television series American English-language television shows Netflix television dramas Television shows based on American novels Television series by Lionsgate Television Television series by 3 Arts Entertainment Television shows set in Texas Television shows filmed in North Carolina