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The Hunting Wives

The Hunting Wives
Title card
GenreDrama
Created byRebecca Cutter
Based onThe Hunting Wives
by May Cobb
ShowrunnerRebecca Cutter
Starring
Music byJeff Danna
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons1
No. of episodes8
Production
Executive producers
Producers
  • Joan Cunningham
  • Jeremy Beim
Cinematography
  • Richard Rutkowski
  • Michal Sobocinski
  • Bryce Fortner
Editors
  • Jason Hellmann
  • Sarah C. Reeves
  • Erick Ferrerman
  • Christina Noel
  • Louis P. Bravo
Running time46–55 minutes
Production companies
Original release
NetworkNetflix
ReleaseJuly 21, 2025 (2025-07-21)

The Hunting Wives is an American drama television series based on the novel by May Cobb. It stars Brittany Snow, Malin Akerman, Evan Jonigkeit, Katie Lowes, George Ferrier, Dermot Mulroney, Jaime Ray Newman, and Chrissy Metz. The series premiered on Netflix on July 21, 2025.

Premise

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Set in Maple Brook, a fictional East Texas town, Sophie (Brittany Snow), a young woman and mom, who moves to a small Texas town with her husband, Graham (Evan Jonigkeit) is drawn into the glamorous, dangerous world of a socialite named Margo (Malin Akerman) and her elite clique, the "Hunting Wives". As Sophie gets closer to Margo, she becomes entangled in a web of obsession, secrets, and ultimately, murder, when a teenage girl, Abby (Madison Wolfe) is found dead in the woods where the Hunting Wives meet.

Cast and characters

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Main

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  • Brittany Snow as Sophie O'Neil, a woman from Cambridge, Massachusetts, who recently moved with her husband to Maple Brook, Texas, after she killed a pedestrian in Cambridge while driving under the influence
  • Malin Akerman as Margo Banks, the leader of an elite socialite group of wives known as the Hunting Wives
  • Evan Jonigkeit as Graham O'Neil, Sophie's husband, who is an architect
  • Katie Lowes as Jill, Brad's mother, who is the wife of Reverend Clint and a member of the Hunting Wives
  • George Ferrier as Brad, Jill's teenage son, who is having an affair with Margo
  • Dermot Mulroney as Jed Banks, Margo's older, wealthy husband and Graham's boss, who is an oil tycoon and Texas gubernatorial candidate
  • Jaime Ray Newman as Callie, the number two of the Hunting Wives and the town sheriff's wife
  • Chrissy Metz as Starr, a working-class single mother who is not part of the elite socialite group. Her daughter, Abby, is dating Brad

Recurring

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  • Chosen Jacobs as Jamie, Brad's friend
  • Branton Box as Sheriff Jonny, Callie's husband
  • Madison Wolfe 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

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No.TitleDirected byWritten byOriginal release date
1"Strange and Unfamiliar Places"Julie Anne RobinsonRebecca CutterJuly 21, 2025 (2025-07-21)
Sophie and Graham move to Maple Brook, Texas, and attend an NRA fundraiser hosted by Jed, Graham's boss. Sophie meets Margo, Jed's wife, and forms a connection. At the party, Brad, Reverend Clint's son, and his girlfriend, Abby, start to have sex before Abby stops them, and Margo sees them. Margo and her girl friends invite Sophie to join them for a Friday hangout, which starts with drinking and skeet shooting and turns into a night out dancing. Margo behaves suggestively with Sophie, which makes Sophie curious, but disturbs Margo's close friend Callie. Brad's mother Jill expresses disapproval with his relationship with Abby. While out on the town, a one-eyed man confronts Margo and calls her Mandy. At the end of the night, Margo tells her about her brother Kyle. She asks why Sophie doesn't drink or drive and Sophie reveals an accident in her past. Margo helps loosen up Sophie with some drinking and driving before taking her home.
2"Knockin' Boots"Julie Anne RobinsonRebecca CutterJuly 21, 2025 (2025-07-21)
As Jed decides to run for governor, Margo works overtime to keep their secrets hidden, including paying off Kyle and ending her affair with Callie. At a couple's dinner with Sophie, Margo, Graham and Jed, Jed makes a pass at Sophie and Margo tells Sophie about their marital arrangement that they can both sleep with other women. Jed and Margo allow themselves to continue their arrangement with discretion. Sophie begins to realize her feelings for Margo. A jealous and suspicious Callie uncovers Sophie's past life in Boston through her husband Sheriff Jonny. Abby navigates her rocky relationship with Brad and is suspicious of his connection with Margo. Meanwhile, Sophie tries to take a day for herself, but is confronted by the one-eyed man about Margo. Margo tries to end her affair with Brad, but when he threatens to expose it, they agree to continue it and keep it a secret. When Sophie comes to warn Margo, she sees Margo and Brad having sex.
3"Sunrise Tells the Story"Melanie MayronMike WeissJuly 21, 2025 (2025-07-21)
After avoiding Margo for witnessing her affair with Brad, Sophie is ultimately forced to confront Margo about it. Margo takes Sophie shopping for a hunting rifle for boar hunting, where Sophie also buys a handgun which she keeps from Graham. Callie coerces Sophie to admit to the group that she struck and killed a pedestrian back in Boston. Sending everyone else away, Margo consoles Sophie by revealing her poor upbringing. Upset with Brad, Abby meets with youth pastor Pete, who reveals Brad confessed something to him, leading Abby to seek out Brad. Jill calls Abby asking about Brad and Abby threatens to expose Brad’s secret activities, leading Jill to go and find them. Margo invites Brad and his friend Jamie over and Margo and Sophie share their first kiss over "spin the bottle". Sophie declines Jamie's advances and they continue drinking, leading Sophie to black out. In the morning, Deputy Wanda Salazar, returning to duty after being injured pursuing missing teenager Kaycee Krummel, discovers Abby's body in the woods, having been shot to death. When Sophie wakes up and returns home, she is shocked when she can't find her handgun.
4"Cheat Day"Melanie MayronEmily Bensinger & Benjamin FloresJuly 21, 2025 (2025-07-21)
After Abby's body is discovered, Jill begins to scramble as Brad may be the prime suspect and makes sure he aligns his alibi with hers. As Sophie panics searching for her handgun at the lake house, Margo calms her down and the two have sex. Afterward, Sophie reveals to Margo that she had an emergency hysterectomy after a failed second pregnancy. The two of them align their own story for the night before, agreeing that they were both together the whole night. Reverend Clint puts Pastor Pete on leave due to his closeness with Abby. Deputy Salazar promises Abby's mother Starr she will catch Abby's killer. During Abby's vigil, the police arrive to detain Sophie as they had recovered her handgun from a robber in another town and confirmed it to be the same weapon that killed Abby.
5"Not Her First Rodeo"Cheryl DunyeBreannah Gibson & Will HettingerJuly 21, 2025 (2025-07-21)
Now the prime suspect behind Abby's murder, Sophie tries to piece together the events of that night, but Graham believes she is losing control of herself. While Jed tries to do damage control, Margo sets in motion another plan. She tells the cops that she had actually left the lake house that night to deal with a family emergency. After an altercation with Starr, Jill decides to take desperate measures to ensure Brad's innocence. When the police relay Margo's story to Sophie, Graham tells her to leave and she checks into a motel. While all evidence points to Sophie, Deputy Salazar remains skeptical of a motive. Jed's ex-wife Sienna calls Sophie to tell her to seek out Kyle.
6"Deep in the Heart of Texas"Cheryl DunyeBrandon ZuckJuly 21, 2025 (2025-07-21)
Sophie meets with Kyle in Alba, who tells her that he had a drug overdose the night of Abby's murder. Sophie also learns about Margo's previous life as Mandy. Sophie meets with the doctor that treated Kyle who confirms Margo was with them that night. Margo believes she is being blackmailed when given photos of her with Brad. When she confronts Sophie, the two agree to work together to find the killer. Thinking Jill could be involved, Margo meets with Brad, who becomes suspicious of Jill's behavior. Margo has all of her friends sign NDAs to protect herself during Jed’s campaign, but Jill refuses, further fueling everyone’s suspicions. Meanwhile, after speaking with Starr, Sophie meets with Pastor Pete, who reveals that Brad confessed to him that he got his girlfriend pregnant and she had an abortion, which Sophie believes was Abby. Deputy Salazar sees that the last phone calls Abby had were with Pete and Jill, leading her to suspect both of them. Pete takes Abby's friend Nina on a carnival date, where she is then drugged and kidnapped by Pete.
7"Shooting Star"Jennifer GetzingerKayla Westergard-DobsonJuly 21, 2025 (2025-07-21)
Brad discovers Jill had changed her passwords and deleted her GPS records and he tells Margo. Sophie tells Starr about the abortion, making Starr upset, but suspicious. Deputy Salazar learns that Pastor Pete was expelled from his previous church. She visits Pete and recognizes a smell from when she was shot. Realizing he is Kaycee Krummel's abductor, she and Deputy Flynn chase him and corner him on the highway where he kills himself. Kaycee and Nina are rescued and Salazar assumes Pete to be Abby's killer until Sheriff Jonny reveals evidence showing otherwise. Sophie is brought in to be shown footage from a hidden camera in the woods showing Sophie confronting Abby moments before she was killed and Sophie is charged with Abby's murder. When Margo remains suspicious of Jill, she and Callie confront Jill, who has shot and killed Starr as Starr believed Jill killed Abby and tried to kill Jill over it. When Jill threatens to kill Margo, Callie shoots and kills Jill.
8"Sophie's Choice"Jennifer GetzingerRebecca CutterJuly 21, 2025 (2025-07-21)
Jill is named Abby's killer and the case closed. Margo discovers Callie was the blackmailer. After being exonerated, Sophie tells Graham she needs time to figure out herself and their marriage before she resumes her relationship with Margo. When Sophie finds something that makes her suspicious, she meets with Brad and an associate of the one-eyed man and Sophie realizes Margo had gotten pregnant from Brad, had the abortion, killed Abby when she found out, and framed Jill, the doctor from Alba being her father, abortion provider and murder alibi with Kyle's help. Margo confirms this when confronted, but Sophie leaves. Sophie reveals her affair to Graham, who leaves for Boston. Margo reveals her abortion to Jed, who kicks her out, leading her back to Kyle. When a stressed Sophie goes out for drinks, Kyle tries to confront her, but Sophie kills him with her car. As she had been drinking, she dumps his body into a lake. She accidentally takes a call from Margo from Kyle's phone, making Margo suspicious. The one-eyed man's associate comes for Sophie at her home as she had not given him information in return for his.

Production

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Development

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In October 2023, it was announced Starz 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 and 3 Arts Entertainment will produce.[1] In an interview with Vulture, Malin Akerman revealed that the creative team used Melania Trump as reference for her character Margo Banks.[2]

Casting

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In January 2024, Malin Akerman joined the cast of the series.[3] In February 2024, Brittany Snow, Dermot Mulroney, and Evan Jonigkeit joined the cast.[4][5][6] In March 2024, Chrissy Metz, Jaime Ray Newman, Katie Lowes, and George Ferrier joined the cast.[7]

Filming

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

Principal photography began by March 2024, in North Carolina. Downtown Mooresville was turned into an East Texas city. Many surrounding locations were also used for principal photography. Production wrapped in June 2024.[8][7]

In an interview with Variety, Akerman said they had Lizzie Talbot, an intimacy coordinator on set, to make sure they feel comfortable with nudity and sex scenes or not.[9]

Music

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Jeff Danna composed the series' score.[10]

Release

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Following the spin-off of Starz Inc. into an independent company separate from Lionsgate Studios, Lionsgate Television acquired rights to The Hunting Wives back from Starz. In June 2025, Netflix licensed U.S. rights to the series for a year, with the series premiering on the platform on July 21.[11]

Reception

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Critical response

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The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 74% approval rating based on 23 critic reviews. The website's critics consensus reads, "Brittany Snow and Malin Akerman are diabolically fun to watch in The Hunting Wives, a risqué soap that turns bad behavior into highly bingeable fun."[12] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, gave a score of 73 out of 100 based on 12 critics, indicating "generally favorable".[13]

Viewership

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For the week of July 21 to 27, The Hunting Wives ranked third on Netflix's English-language TV list, drawing 5.2 million views.[14] According to Luminate, the series was the most-streamed series in the United States for the week of July 25 to 31, accumulated over 2 billion minutes viewed.[15]

References

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  1. ^ Andreeva, Nellie (October 4, 2023). "Starz Greenlights 'The Hunting Wives' Series Based On Book From Rebecca Cutter, Lionsgate & 3 Arts". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved March 18, 2024.
  2. ^ Hadadi, Roxana (August 7, 2025). "Malin Åkerman Says 'Fear Her Wrath' in Hunting Wives Season Two". Vulture. Retrieved August 13, 2025.
  3. ^ Cordero, Rosy (January 24, 2024). "Malin Åkerman To Lead New Starz Series 'The Hunting Wives'". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved March 18, 2024.
  4. ^ Hailu, Selome (February 14, 2024). "Brittany Snow Cast Opposite Malin Åkerman in 'The Hunting Wives' at Starz". Variety. Retrieved March 18, 2024.
  5. ^ Cordero, Rosy (February 23, 2024). "Dermot Mulroney Joins Cast Of New Starz Drama 'The Hunting Wives'". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved March 18, 2024.
  6. ^ Cordero, Rosy (February 23, 2024). "'The Hunting Wives': Evan Jonigkeit Boards Rebecca Cutter Drama Series". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved March 18, 2024.
  7. ^ a b Porter, Rick (March 18, 2024). "'This Is Us,' 'Scandal' Stars Board 'The Hunting Wives' at Starz". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved March 18, 2024.
  8. ^ Ulmann, Jesse (February 20, 2024). "Casting Call: Extras sought in Charlotte for upcoming filming of Starz 'Hunting Wives'". Queen City News. Retrieved March 18, 2024.
  9. ^ Gao, Max (July 23, 2025). "'The Hunting Wives' Star Malin Åkerman on Playing a Secretly Queer Republican and Revealing Hypocrisy Around Abortion: 'This Is F—ed Up!' (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Retrieved July 30, 2025.
  10. ^ "Jeff Danna Scoring Netflix's 'The Hunting Wives'". Film Music Reporter. Retrieved July 8, 2025.
  11. ^ Andreeva, Nellie (June 6, 2025). "'The Hunting Wives' Moves To Netflix For U.S. Following Lionsgate & Starz Separation; Premiere Date Set". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved June 6, 2025.
  12. ^ "The Hunting Wives: Season 1". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved August 20, 2025.
  13. ^ "The Hunting Wives: Season 1". Metacritic. Retrieved August 20, 2025.
  14. ^ Campione, Katie (July 29, 2025). "'Untamed' Leads Netflix English TV List Again As 'The Hunting Wives' Puts Up Impressive Debut; 'Happy Gilmore 2' & 'KPop Demon Hunters' Dominate Film". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved July 29, 2025.
  15. ^ Campione, Katie (August 5, 2025). "'The Hunting Wives' Soars Atop Luminate's TV Streaming Rankings After Netflix Debut As 'And Just Like That...' Reps HBO Max In Top 25 Amid Cancellation". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved August 5, 2025.
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