Netflix’s newest book-to-screen adaptation, “The Hunting Wives,” brings May Cobb’s best-selling novel to life in an eight-episode series brimming with intrigue, betrayal, and Southern charm. Think “Big Little Lies,” but with a Texas twang.
The series follows Sophie (Brittany Snow), a devoted mother who uproots her life from Cambridge, MA, to a small town in Texas with her architect husband, Graham (Evan Jonigkeit). What begins as a fresh start quickly unravels when a local girl is found murdered in the woods. As Sophie begins to learn more about her husband’s boss, Jed (Dermot Mulroney), his wife Margo (Malin Åkerman), and their close-knit Wives’ club, Sophie uncovers that she’s not the only one with secrets.
The show dives headfirst into debates around abortion, gun control, and religion, framed through the clash between Sophie’s northern liberal perspective and the wives’ conservative Christian values. Sophie is confronted with that collision from episode one when she is invited to an NRA party at Jed and Margo’s home. In a later episode, discussions of abortion also cause a divide amongst the wives and the congregation.
Though the early episodes stumble with moments of stiff dialogue, the awkwardness smartly mirrors Sophie’s own discomfort as an outsider. Once the tangled web of relationships, manipulation, and buried secrets begins to unravel, the series finds its rhythm.
One of the most compelling threads is the love affair between Sophie and Margo. While the “secret queer affair” trope can feel overdone, here it’s essential. Their relationship pulses with real desire, but also serves as a weapon when everything starts to fall apart. Snow, no stranger to sapphic subtext from roles in “John Tucker Must Die” and “Pitch Perfect,” leans in fully this time. She even joked about her journey to this role at the 2025 Emmy Awards, quipping, “Wow, that took me a while to get here. Sorry, I was really slow to come out.”
The show’s soundtrack is just as deliberate. It opens with Patsy Cline’s “Walking After Midnight,” a wistful, lonely ballad. But by the season finale, the same track returns, this time slowed down and haunting, echoing a chilling truth: no matter how far you run, your past always catches up.
Ending on a literal and figurative cliffhanger, audiences are left wondering: will there be a season 2?
On September 12, Netflix announced that “The Hunting Wives” would return. However, the season 2 storyline still remains a secret, as showrunner Rebecca Perry Cutter picks up the story where Cobb left off in the books.
When asked what they’re predictions are for the upcoming season, which will resume filming in November, Snow told Entertainment Tonight, “I would like Sophie to make better choices,” while Ackerman predicted “a lot of fun.”
“I think we all like watching girls behaving badly, so I’m just not sure that the morals will come back anytime soon,” Åkerman joked.
@entertainmenttonight We've been on the hunt for a Brittany Snow and Malin Akerman moment on the #Emmys red carpet and they absolutely delivered. 🤩 #thehuntingwives #brittanysnow #malinakerman ♬ original sound – Entertainment Tonight
Season 1 of “The Hunting Wives” is now streaming on Netflix.
Featured Photo Credit: Netflix
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