The Hunting Wives

Premise

Sophie, a wife and mother who moves from Massachusetts to the fictional East Texas town of Maple Brook with her husband, Graham, is drawn into the glamorous, dangerous world of a socialite named Margo 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, is found dead in the woods where the Hunting Wives meet.

Cast and characters

Main

Brittany Snow as Sophie O'Neil, a young 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, and becomes captivated with Margo, the wife of her husband's boss

Malin Akerman as Margo Banks, the leader of an elite socialite group of wives known as the Hunting Wives, who takes an interest in Sophie

Evan Jonigkeit as Graham O'Neil, Sophie's husband, an architect

Katie Lowes as Jill, Brad's mother, the wife of Reverend Clint, and a member of the Hunting Wives

George Ferrier as Brad, Jill's teenage son

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

Hunter Emery as Deputy Walter Flynn (season 2; recurring season 1), a Sheriff's Department officer who is investigating the murder of Abby with his partner, Deputy Salazar

Karen Rodriguez as Deputy Wanda Salazar (season 2; recurring season 1), Deputy Flynn's partner at the Sheriff's Department, who is investigating the murder of Abby with him

Recurring

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 youth pastor

Kim Matula as Nadia Kelly (season 2)

Alex Fitzalan as Lincoln Trout (season 2)

John Stamos as Chase Brylan (season 2)

Cam Gigandet as Gentle John Moffitt (season 2)

Dale Dickey as Zelda Moffitt (season 2)

Angel Reese as Trainer Barbie (season 2)

Casey Mills as Nico (season 2)

Episodes

Production

Development

In October 2023, it was revealed 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. In an interview with Vulture, Malin Akerman revealed that the creative team used Melania Trump as reference for her character Margo Banks. In September 2025, Netflix acquired the series as a global original for an eight-episode second season. A third season is in development and set to shoot in the fall of 2026.

Casting

In January 2024, Malin Akerman joined the cast of the series. In February 2024, Brittany Snow, Dermot Mulroney, and Evan Jonigkeit joined the cast. In March 2024, Chrissy Metz, Jaime Ray Newman, Katie Lowes, and George Ferrier joined the cast. In November 2025, Hunter Emery and Karen Rodriguez had been promoted to series regulars for the second season.

In December 2025, Kim Matula, Alex FitzAlan, John Stamos, Cam Gigandet and Dale Dickey were cast in recurring roles for the second season. In January 2026, Angel Reese joined the cast in a recurring capacity for the second season. In February 2026, Casey Mills was cast in a recurring role for the second season.

Filming

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

In an interview with Variety, Akerman said they had Lizzie Talbot, an intimacy coordinator, on set to make sure they felt comfortable with the nudity and sex scenes.

Filming for the second season began on November 17, 2025, and concluded on March 13, 2026.

Music

Jeff Danna composed the series' score.

Release

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. Netflix does not have the series in Canada and Australia, where the rights are held by Crave and Stan respectively. The second season is scheduled to premiere on November 26, 2026.

Reception

Critical response

The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported an 81% approval rating, based on 31 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." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, gave a score of 73 out of 100, based on 12 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.

Audience viewership

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