The Hunting Wives: Are Beautiful Hunters!?
The Hunting Wives (Season 1/USA/2025) Series is a fictional tale set in a small Texas town in America. Fascinatingly, this intriguing story depicts salacious and scandalous tales about a bunch of well-off socialites.
[This series is rated TV-MA in the USA. So, it means that it is for Mature Audiences (MA) only.]
Series Review [Spoiler Free]: The Hunting Wives (Season 1/USA/2025) English
In FOCUS: Murders & Mayhem In This Shocking Tale of Love & Lust
Synopsis
The Hunting Wives is a racy drama that follows newcomer Sophie O’Neil (Brittany Snow) as she becomes entranced with Margo Banks (Malin Åkerman), a seductive socialite, and her exclusive circle of affluent girlfriends, known as the Hunting Wives, in a small East Texas town. Underneath the Southern charm lies a world of temptation and dangerous liaisons. Margo’s magnetic charm and the group’s intoxicating allure awaken Sophie’s dormant passions, leading her down a treacherous path lined with jealousy, deadly suspicion, and murder.
About
The show is based on the book of the same name, ‘The Hunting Wives’, by May Cobb. And, not surprisingly, the author May Cobb is a Texas native who lives in Austin with her family. Therefore, in her novel, the leading ladies are the glamorous housewives living in a small town in Texas. FYI, Texas holds the distinction of being the second-largest state in the U.S. in terms of area and population, featuring a diverse economy and a rich historical narrative that includes periods of rule by the Spanish, French, Mexican, and its own Republic.
But, rather interestingly, the shooting of this (USA) series took place in North Carolina, not in East Texas or anywhere else in Texas. And that is what showbiz is all about. The make-believe world.
Notably, it explores the hidden decay that has set in an elite society, without passing any judgment on them. Simply serving the tale on a hot plate. However, while watching this adult (18+) show about attraction, seduction, obsession, murder and more, some of you might dislike (or like) these high-class housewives. A few can raise their concerns about the questionable behaviour of these hunting wives. So, in a way, it is left up to the viewers to act as a judge.
Now, let us get back on the horse and tell you all about this hit show in the USA, which was released on July 21, 2025.
Storyline
Now, let us bear in mind that most of these hunting housewives lead very fascinating lives. On one hand, there is a dignified public persona, shown and known to the outside world. On the other hand, their private persona hides their vices and debauchery is well hidden from society. In fact, each of the key characters is involved in making quite a few questionable choices in their lives. And hiding their juicy secrets is the name of the game. We wish we could tell you more about its plotline, but we do not want to share spoilers here. Because that will definitely ruin your viewing pleasure.
However, we have shared a few spoilers below. Do check them out in case you are interested. A word of caution and reminder, perhaps, it is an American LGBTQ+ mystery thriller. So, definitely, it is not a family show.
Poster
Malin & Brittany
In this female-led series, both Malin Akerman (Margo Banks) and Brittany Snow (Sophie O’Neil) steal the show from everybody else. Certainly, the author-backed roles helped the lead pair of Malin and Brittany to bring back the bewitching sexiness back in the small screens. But they are not the only ones. Jaime Ray Newman (Callie), Katie Lowes (Jill), Joyce Glenn (Monae), and Alexandria DeBerry (Taylor) are other beautiful ladies who are the other members of the informal hunting wives club. Almost all of them lead a self-indulgent life, as you only live once.
Meanwhile, these wives have equally colourful husbands. For instance, Dermot Mulroney (Jed Banks) is a wealthy oil mogul who aspires to become the Governor of Texas, soon. While Evan Jonigkeit (Graham O’Neil) is a successful architect, he seems to be a decent guy in this lot. However, we have one complaint to register. Certainly, we would have liked to see more of the on-screen mother-daughter duo of Chrissy Metz (Starr/single mom) and Madison Wolfe (Abby) in the show. Sadly, that did not happen. The rest of the ensemble cast played their characters well, too.
Rating
| Focus Magazine (FM) Rating | 3.55/5 |
Conclusion
The show did manage to hide the mystery and maintain the suspense around the two main police cases. The first case was about the missing teenage girl. While the second one involved the murder of another young lady. And as usual, the male cops were totally clueless. Thankfully, this local police force has Deputy Wanda Salazar (Karen Rodriguez), who is smart enough to look beyond the obvious to solve these cases. Oh, this show has so many twists and turns that keep the viewers like us invested. Lastly, the cliff-hanger ending suggests that there is more to come. To sum up, it was a fairly engaging and entertaining show.
Key Details
| Genre | Drama, Mystery, Thriller |
| Original Language | English (USA) |
| Season | First (1st) Season |
| Episodes | Eight (8) Episodes |
| Writer | May Cobb (show is based on her novel) |
| Show creator | Rebecca Perry Cutter |
| Other writers | Rebecca Perry Cutter, Benjamin Flores, Will Hettinger, Kayla Westergard-Dobson, Emily Bensinger, Breannah Gibson, Mike Weiss, Brandon Zuck, etc. |
| Directors | Cheryl Dunye, Melanie Mayron, Jennifer Getzinger & Julie Anne Robinson |
| Music Composer | Jeff Danna |
| Main Cast | Malin Akerman (Margo Banks), Brittany Snow (Sophie O’Neil), Jaime Ray Newman (Callie), Katie Lowes (Jill), Dermot Mulroney (Jed Banks), Evan Jonigkeit (Graham O’Neil), Chrissy Metz (Starr), George Ferrier (Brad), Alexandria DeBerry (Taylor), Joyce Glenn (Monae), Madison Wolfe (Abby), Chosen Jacobs (Jamie), Branton Box (Sheriff Jonny), Hunter Emery (Flynn), Karen Rodriguez (Salazar), Paul Teal (Pastor Pete), Abigail Rhyne (Nina), Emmett Moss (Jack O’Neil), etc. |
| Network | Netflix |
Trailer
[Also, check out the YouTube video clip – The Hunting Wives- Meet Margo (Malin Ackerman) and Her Web of Secrets | LionsgateTV.]
Spoilers Alert
“The Hunting Wives” Are Not Innocents. Are They? | Closing thoughts.
Firstly, who killed Abby?
Well, there are a bunch of suspects in this suspenseful show. However, the local cops believe that Sophie O’Neil (Brittany Snow) is the prime suspect.
Is she?
No. Not really. The most obvious answer is not the correct answer. After many twists and turns, we finally learn the truth.
So, in the final episode, we learn that Margo Banks (Malin Åkerman) is the actual murderer. And she killed Abby to protect her abortion secret as well as maintain her high social profile and status.
Secondly, who else was killed in the show?
By the time the first season finale concludes, Abby’s mother, Starr (Chrissy Metz), Jill (Katie Lowes), and Margo’s brother Kyle (Michael Aaron Milligan) have all died, each at the hands of a different assailant.
Not to forget, the shocking case and the tragic death of Pastor Pete (Paul Teal) in the show.
We think none of “The Hunting Wives” are innocent. Some of them definitely have skeletons in the closet.
In the end, the series does manage to answer most of the murder mystery queries.
Will Karma catch up in the end?
But the sudden and unexpected killing of Margo’s brother, Kyle (Michael Aaron Milligan), in the season finale episode, suggests that the second season is not far away. In other words, both the leading ladies of “The Hunting Wives”, Sophie O’Neil (Brittany Snow) and Margo Banks (Malin Åkerman), are killers.
Now. will the justice catches up with them in the upcoming second season.
[Also, read the FM Series Review of the "Untamed" (Season 1/USA/2025/) Series, another crime drama from America.]
The Poster and the Featured Image of The Hunting Wives (Season 1/USA/2025) Series are credited to Netflix.
