Netflix’s The Hunting Wives is a salacious and sultry murder mystery — but how does the TV adaptation compare to the original book?
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, the newcomer fell into “a rabbit hole of obsession, seduction and murder,” according to the official synopsis.
In addition to Åkerman and Snow, the show also stars Katie Lowes, Dermot Mulroney, Evan Jonigkeit, Chrissy Metz, Jaime Ray Newman and George Ferrier. While the show took inspiration from the biggest book story lines, not everything is lifted straight from the page.
“There are a lot of similarities to the book, and then not,” Lowes exclusively told Us Weekly in June 2025. “But May Cobb — the writer of the book — was on set with us all the time.”
‘Hunting Wives’ Ending Explained After Changes: Who Killed Abby? Who Died?
Lowes recalled getting Cobb’s “blessing every which way,” adding, “She’s so psyched about it. If you read the book, you know it is the perfect greeting ground for just amazing water cooler drama. It’s great.”
One month later, Åkerman also spoke about Cobb’s “stamp of approval” on the show.
“[Creator] Rebecca [Cutter] and May Cobb have a really great relationship. They’ve been talking through a lot and May was kind of like, ‘Go for it.’ She was on set and was really elated to see her characters come to life and really loved the direction that Rebecca went in with the characters and the changes,” she noted to Us. “It’s fun to have some of the changes from the book so that people who are fans of the story can go along and be surprised as well. Hopefully it’s not too far gone where it doesn’t veer too far off the book so that they know the characters.”
Åkerman continued: “I read the scripts before I read the book so my bias might be the other way around. But again, I just feel like we get the essence of the characters. We get the world and I hope that fans will like it who’ve read the book.”
Keep scrolling for the main differences that took place on the show compared to Cobb’s version:
Sophie’s Backstory and Alcohol Issues
In the book, Sophie is a former magazine editor who makes the move from Chicago to Texas. The series, meanwhile, swapped Chicago for Boston. It also decreased how heavily Sophie relied on alcohol throughout the series — until the finale. On screen, Sophie admitted she got arrested for running someone over while drinking and driving. This became a full circle moment at the end of season 1 — but you have to keep reading to find out how.
Aging Up Brad
The draw — or distraction — in Cobb’s novel is the illicit affairs between housewives and high school boys. But Netflix’s version made it a priority to have the boys clarify they were technically 18 and, as a result, are of legal, consenting age.
Abby’s Pregnancy
The eight-part series revealed that Abby was the girl found murdered in the woods, which motivated the town to search for her killer for various reasons. The book upped the ante, with Abby being pregnant when she died.
The Abortion Twist
Both the book and the show had a pregnancy and an abortion twist related to Abby’s death. On the page, it was Abby who got pregnant with Brad’s baby and refused to get an abortion, which is what triggered her murder.
Netflix’s The Hunting Wives introduced the idea that Abby was secretly pregnant, but it wasn’t until the finale that Sophie realized Margo was actually the one who had an abortion after Brad impregnated her. More on that later …
The Identity of the Killer
Cobb’s version revolved around Jill luring Abby out to kill her while using one of Margo’s guns. While the show threw Jill out as an option, she was a red herring and Callie ended up killing her in self defense when Jill tried to shoot Margo.
In the season 1 finale, Sophie realized that the assumption that Jill was the killer didn’t add up. Instead, it was Margo who killed Abby and then allowed Sophie to take the fall.
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Margo’s Fate Within the Show
Speaking of Margo, Cobb’s novel unmasked Jill as the killer after she also killed Margo because of her romance with Brad. The show, meanwhile, didn’t kill off Margo and instead made her the killer.
Extra Deaths
Sophie nearly died in the book while trying to get to the bottom of Abby’s murder before Jill is apprehended by Callie and the police. Netflix’s The Hunting Wives took more victims with Jill and Starr’s deaths. There was also a side plot featuring a youth pastor at Abby’s church who took two underage girls hostage. He was a prime suspect in Abby’s murder until he died by suicide — and the police realized he was only responsible for the kidnappings.
The Ending That Sets Up Season 2
In the book, there’s a two-month time jump that revealed Sophie and her husband, Graham, were separated after she cheated on him. The show doesn’t move that far forward and instead heightened the situation with Sophie telling Graham about the affair. He left her and she started to unravel under the weight of the revelation that Margo killed Abby.
Sophie started drinking — and drinking — which is how Margo’s brother found her and threatened her. The situation escalated, Kyle ended up dead after Sophie ran him over and then she dumped his body over a cliff. The last scene was Margo calling Kyle — only to hear Sophie breathing on the other line.
