The Hunting Wives is officially returning for a second season — but what story is the show telling after those big book changes?
Based on May Cobb‘s novel of the same name, The Hunting Wives follows Sophie (Brittany Snow) who moves from Boston to an East Texas town where she finds herself drawn to prominent socialite Margo (Malin Åkerman). In addition to being a murder mystery, The Hunting Wives won viewers over with lots of drinking and intense chemistry between Sophie and Margo.
Before it premiered, the show was slated to air on Starz but Netflix ultimately got exclusive licensing rights in the U.S. for one year after Lionsgate Television acquired rights to The Hunting Wives back from Starz. Netflix confirmed in September 2025 that the show would be returning for a second season and would be released “exclusively as a Netflix branded series in nearly all countries Netflix is available, with the original cast set to reprise their roles.”
“I’m so excited to write these amazing characters again, and I can’t wait to take the audience on another sexy, twisted, bats*** crazy ride through Maple Brook,” showrunner Rebecca Cutter said in a statement at the time.
Which ‘Hunting Wives’ Stars Are — And Aren’t — Returning After Book Changes?
Keep scrolling for everything to know about The Hunting Wives season 2:
Who Is Returning for ‘The Hunting Wives’ Season 2?
Snow, Åkerman, Jaime Ray Newman, Dermot Mulroney, Evan Jonigkeit and George Ferrier are all confirmed to return.
What Story Is at the Center of ‘The Hunting Wives’ Season 2?
According to an official synopsis, season 2 picks up with Sophie and Margo “on the outs.”
“But soon enough, old secrets and new foes force them back together,” read the description for the hit Netflix series. “As they play their dangerous games the question arises. Are they the hunters or the hunted?”
How Did the Book Changes Shake Up ‘The Hunting Wives’?
Those who have read the novel know that Jill (Katie Lowes) killed her son Brad’s (Ferrier) girlfriend after Abby got pregnant and refused to get an abortion. Jill subsequently killed Margo (named Margot in the book) because she knew about her friend’s affair with her teenage son as well.
The eight-part series, however, took a large departure from the original plot by having Margo as the one who got pregnant with Brad’s baby. Margo had an abortion and ultimately killed Abby, which Sophie figured out in the season 1 finale. Sophie was about to give Margo up before Margo’s brother got involved and Sophie ended up killing Kyle (Aaron Milligan).
What Is the Vision for ‘The Hunting Wives’ Season 2?
Cutter previously teased plans for a second season when speaking to Variety in July 2025, saying there is “a little bit of a time jump — not a year, but a time.” She also hinted that “it would be smart” to have a new murder mystery in the next season, adding, “I don’t know whodunit yet or who got done!”
Author Cobb also showed support for a continuation. “I feel like there is so much more story to be told,” Cobb told CBS 19 that same month. “It ends on a cliffhanger, and also, the cast and crew were so wonderful. We all just want to get back together and work together again.”
What ‘The Hunting Wives’ Cast Has Said About the Book Changes in the Show
Where Does Sophie’s Story Go From Here?
Sophie found herself in a difficult situation after killing someone — again — in the season 1 finale.
“I think that that’s something that she probably hasn’t even wrestled with within herself, as far as why she’s comfortable keeping herself in that box and also keeping secrets from herself. That’s a dark night of the soul situation that we would only be seeing in season 2,” Snow teased to Collider in July 2025. “I don’t know how she’s going to get there. Therapy? Maybe a really good therapist and a lot of time.”
Snow was curious how Sophie would dig herself out of the situation, adding, “The thing that I love about the character of Sophie, and I feel like what I loved about reading all eight scripts, was that Sophie ends up, at the end of episode eight, exactly where she was probably in the flashback before we even see her. She’s had this full circle transformation of finding herself again, and yet here we are. Her true self is a mess.”
She continued: “She’s been holding it so tightly and she’s been so tightly wound, but then, at the end, you see that she can’t hold it together anymore. She’s actually falling apart. She’s got an instinct in her that is really, really messy. She’s more like Margo than she’s not. What I really loved about the character is that she comes back to herself, and she is not a good person.”
Could Sophie and Margo Survive Their Messy Breakup?
“I think the end is really interesting and I know that we would deal with it in season 2. There are a lot of questions that didn’t get answered because Rebecca wants to answer them in the next season if we get one,” Snow hinted to Collider. “We shot the scene where I am drunk and talking to Abby, that got seen on the trail cam, that showed how I even got there with Abby and what I’m trying to say to her. We improved the scene, where I’m trying to fight for Margo and I’m trying to tell Abby that she got Margo all wrong and we can work it out.”
Snow wasn’t sure whether there would be a reconciliation.
“It’s really a big blow to her that, no matter what she was doing, even when she was blacked out, she’s always been trying to protect Margo in this way, and then Margo just completely turned around and lied,” she noted. “I think that’ll be a really big question for the next season. I don’t know if you can come back from where Margo and Sophie are, especially because Sophie killed her brother.”
Will Margo Climb Her Way Back to the Top?
Despite her husband, Jed (Mulroney), kicking her out of their home, Margo could still rise the ranks again.
“She’s a mess, but we see her survival skills kicking in. She’s not a quitter. So no matter how dire the situation is, she has her moment [after] everything falls apart. She’s lost everything, and she comes to Kyle in tears and says, ‘It’s over.’ And then we see her going back to Callie and putting together another plan, because that’s what she does,” Åkerman told Variety in July 2025. “She’s going to get right back up and figure her s*** out. And as we see at the end of the finale, I think it’s going to go her way because of what happens to Sophie.”
Åkerman wanted to see how Margo and Sophie reunite, saying, “Sophie’s in a s***storm, and she’s going to need Margo, so I think she’s going to be OK. I think Margo and Sophie are going to have to band together, for better or worse, and they’re going to have to figure this s*** out. Now Sophie can’t hang that over Margo’s head anymore.”
She concluded: “She hates to admit it, but this is the one person who she can always go back to, because she’s still his family and he will do all her dirty work for her. So again, there’s that desperation, there’s the fear. There’s a lot of emotions going through her at that moment, because this one person is all she’s got left.”
