The Hunting Wives is coming back for season 2 — but is everyone returning after those book changes?
Based on May Cobb‘s novel of the same name, the hit Netflix series follows Sophie (Brittany Snow) as she finds herself wrapped up in socialite Margo’s (Malin Åkerman) orbit. Sophie befriends Margo’s circle of housewives, but their dangerous secrets lead to a shocking murder with Sophie as the prime suspect.
In addition to Åkerman and Snow, the show starred Katie Lowes, Dermot Mulroney, Evan Jonigkeit, Chrissy Metz, Jaime Ray Newman and George Ferrier. After the show premiered in July 2025, showrunner Rebecca Cutter and the cast addressed why The Hunting Wives didn’t fully stick to the source material.
“Rebecca 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,” Åkerman exclusively told Us Weekly that same month. “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.”
What ‘The Hunting Wives’ Cast Has Said About the Book Changes in the Show
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.”
Netflix officially renewed the show in September 2025 and teased who would — and wouldn’t — be coming back. Keep scrolling to see the full cast list:
Brittany Snow
Snow has teased what she is hoping would get explored for Sophie — especially after she killed someone before season 1 was over.
“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 8, 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.”
Malin Åkerman
Season 2 kicks off with Sophie and Margo “on the outs.”
“But soon enough, old secrets and new foes force them back together,” the official synopsis teased. “As they play their dangerous games the question arises. Are they the hunters or the hunted?”
Jaime Ray Newman
Newman’s character, Callie, is returning in season 2 as well after it was revealed that she killed Jill (Lowes) — who killed Starr (Metz).
Dermot Mulroney
The Hunting Wives wouldn’t be what it is without Mulroney’s Jed Banks running for office and causing chaos.
Evan Jonigkeit
Despite Sophie’s marriage coming to an end, her estranged husband, Graham, is coming back in season 2.
George Ferrier
After The Hunting Wives introduced a secret affair between Margo and her friend Jill’s 18-year-old son, Brad (Ferrier), who was in high school in the book, Netflix brought Ferrier back for season 2.
Åkerman, meanwhile, previously explained why it was important to age Brad up in the show.
“That [underage] element wasn’t thrown in there. That can be a really different conversation. So he is of age — technically — but he is very young,” she told Us in March 2025. “He’s just of age. He also happens to be her best friend’s son.”
She continued: “That — for me — is more of the controversy. But I’m not trying to tell a story through Margo where I hope people aspire to become her at all. As we continue to watch, you might change your mind on how you feel about her. But I love all of this stuff, and anything that’s plot-driven and that moves the plot forward, I’m happy to explore even it’s gratuitous.”
Biggest Differences Between Netflix’s ‘The Hunting Wives’ Show and the Book
Chrissy Metz
After Starr’s onscreen death, the only way she could return is in possible flashbacks.
Katie Lowes
Lowes knew going into the show that she wouldn’t return as Jill.
“I knew when I auditioned that Jill was going to die, so I really leaned into it,” Lowes told Us in August 2025. “I’ve gotten to die a bunch of times, so I just was psyched. I was like, ‘I [gotta] go big or go home.’ I [got] to have one amazing season of Jill being as unhinged as I could do it and I loved it.”
She added: “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.’”
Michael Aaron Milligan
Sophie killed Margo’s brother, Kyle (Milligan), at the end of the first season — or did she?
“I’m so grateful to have worked on this project. Everyone was so amazing, lovely and wonderful to work with on a daily basis and whatever. So [I would love] to get a call [about season 2] — or maybe some spooky adventures with the ghost of Kyle,” Milligan quipped to Us in August 2025. “I’m sure they can get very, very creative. I am very much looking forward to hearing from the team and seeing what they [could] have in store ideas wise for Kyle.”
