It is hard to imagine anyone but Katie Lowes playing Jill on The Hunting Wives, but the actress originally auditioned for an entirely different role on the hit Netflix series.
“I originally auditioned for Callie,” Lowes, 42, exclusively told Us Weekly. “I was very proud of that audition tape but now that you see Jaime Ray Newman in that role, it’s like, ‘Why did I even bother?’”
Lowes was thrilled that her interest in Callie paved the way for her to be cast as Jill.
“I got the note, ‘Hey, can you make another audition tape and go in for Jill?’ And I said, ‘I knew when I read it that I would love to play a Callie. But I’m a Jill,’” she quipped. “I knew when I read it that I was a Jill.”
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Lowes continued: “[Creator] Rebecca Cutter didn’t say who, but she did say that a lot of women auditioned for this show. I’m sure a lot of actresses went out for these roles and really, really wanted to get it — not only because it was great but because we hadn’t worked [amid the SAG-AFTRA stike] and because people needed to get back to work vibe. Thank God Rebecca picked me.”
Based on May Cobb‘s novel of the same name, The Hunting Wives follows Sophie (Brittany Snow) after she relocated from Boston to an East Texas town, where she found herself drawn to prominent socialite Margo (Malin Åkerman). After joining a clique of wealthy, conservative housewives with a passion for guns and cocktails, Sophie fell into a rabbit hole of obsession, seduction and murder.
Viewers who read Cobb’s book before watching the Netflix show were in for a surprise when the series premiered in July. The TV version featured a surprising amount of changes — starting with Jill no longer being the murderer.
“I knew when I auditioned that Jill was going to die so I really leaned into it,” Lowes told Us. “I’ve gotten to die a bunch of times so I just was psyched. I was like, ‘I go big or go home.’ I get to have one amazing season of Jill being as unhinged as I could do it and I loved it.”
Despite being a fan of Cobb’s writing, Lowes recalled finding the balance between what was in the book and how Jill shifted on screen.
“I started reading the book and I quickly had to put it down when we started shooting. I was starting to get confused over the Jill that existed in the book and the Jill that Rebecca Cutter was putting on the show,” Lowes noted. “I had to put the book down and just really focus on this story and the job that I was doing with this version of Jill.”
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Lowes enjoyed bringing her own version of Jill to life, adding, “Knowing that Margo was [now] going to be the killer and Jill was going to die, I was like, ‘OK, let’s just focus on the TV show and get that done so that my brain doesn’t get confused.’”
Straying from the source material allowed the Netflix show to set things up for a second season. While Jill can’t return in the traditional sense, Lowes loved Us‘ ideas on how The Hunting Wives could find a way to bring her back.
“I hope Jill is a fan favorite. I get a lot of attention online and I feel like this show is totally one of those that could have flashbacks, hopefully,” she joked. “Maybe a twin or maybe a younger sister who has to come and help raise Jill’s son because he’s so emotionally distraught from the death of his mother.”
The Hunting Wives is currently streaming on Netflix.
