The Hunting Wives is an American drama television series based on the novel of the same name by May Cobb. It stars Brittany Snow, Malin Akerman, Evan Jonigkeit, Katie Lowes, George Ferrier, Dermot Mulroney, Jaime Ray Newman, and Chrissy Metz. The series premiered on Netflix on July 21, 2025, in the USA and on other streaming services elsewhere. In September 2025, the series was renewed for a second season which is set to premiere in 2026.
Sophie, a wife and mother who moves from Massachusetts to the fictional East Texas town of Maple Brook with her husband, Graham, is drawn into the glamorous, dangerous world of a socialite named Margo and her elite clique, the "Hunting Wives." As Sophie gets closer to Margo, she becomes entangled in a web of obsession, secrets, and ultimately murder, when a teenage girl, Abby, is found dead in the woods where the Hunting Wives meet.
In October 2023, it was announced Starz had given the series an eight-episode order, with Rebecca Cutter set to adapt the novel of the same name by May Cobb, and serve as executive producer and showrunner. Lionsgate Television and 3 Arts Entertainment will produce. In an interview with Vulture, Malin Akerman revealed that the creative team used Melania Trump as reference for her character Margo Banks. In September 2025, Netflix acquired the series as a global original for an eight-episode second season.
In January 2024, Malin Akerman joined the cast of the series. In February 2024, Brittany Snow, Dermot Mulroney, and Evan Jonigkeit joined the cast. In March 2024, Chrissy Metz, Jaime Ray Newman, Katie Lowes, and George Ferrier joined the cast. In November 2025, Hunter Emery and Karen Rodriguez had been promoted to series regulars for the second season.
In December 2025, Kim Matula, Alex FitzAlan, John Stamos, Cam Gigandet and Dale Dickey were cast in recurring roles for the second season. In January 2026, Angel Reese joined the cast in a recurring capacity for the second season. In February 2026, Casey Mills was cast in a recurring role for the second season.
Pre-production began on January 18, 2024, in North Charlotte, with 18 weeks of filming shortly following.
Principal photography began by March 2024, in North Carolina. Downtown Mooresville was turned into an East Texas city. Many surrounding locations were also used for principal photography. Production wrapped in June 2024.
In an interview with Variety, Akerman said they had Lizzie Talbot, an intimacy coordinator, on set to make sure they felt comfortable with the nudity and sex scenes.
Filming for the second season began on November 17, 2025 and concluded on March 13, 2026.
Jeff Danna composed the series' score.
Following the spin-off of Starz Inc. into an independent company separate from Lionsgate Studios, Lionsgate Television acquired rights to The Hunting Wives back from Starz. In June 2025, Netflix licensed U.S. rights to the series for a year, with the series premiering on the platform on July 21. Netflix does not have the series in Canada and Australia, where the rights are held by Crave and Stan respectively. The second season is scheduled to premiere in 2026.
The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 80% approval rating based on 30 critic reviews. The website's critics consensus reads, "Brittany Snow and Malin Akerman are diabolically fun to watch in The Hunting Wives, a risqué soap that turns bad behavior into highly bingeable fun." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, gave a score of 73 out of 100 based on 12 critics, indicating "generally favorable".
For the week of July 21 to 27, The Hunting Wives ranked third on Netflix's English-language TV list, drawing 5.2 million views. According to Luminate, the series was the most-streamed series in the United States for the week of July 25 to 31, accumulated over 2 billion minutes viewed.