Netflix’s The Hunting Wives isn’t just provocative, it’s one of the boldest series the platform has released in years.
Developed by Starz and produced by Lionsgate, it carries a raw, unfiltered energy that sets it apart from the typical Netflix original. Across eight binge-worthy episodes, the series dives headfirst into obsession, class privilege, sexual power plays, and a small-town murder wrapped in secrecy.
Set in the fictional East Texas town of Maple Brook, the show wastes no time establishing the tension. From the moment a young woman is shot dead in the woods, the story rewinds three weeks to unravel a layered web of lust, lies, and betrayal.
Here’s your full breakdown of The Hunting Wives, characters, timeline, and the ending that flips everything on its head.
Meet the Women of Maple Brook
At the center is Sophie O’Neil (Brittany Snow), a woman from Cambridge, Massachusetts, who relocates to Texas with her husband Graham (Evan Jonigkeit) and their son. She’s anxious, reserved, and clearly out of her element in a town that thrives on appearance and power.
Her entry into an elite clique known as The Hunting Wives sets the story in motion. The group’s leader is Margo Banks (Malin Akerman), glamorous, unpredictable, and married to oil tycoon Jed Banks (Dermot Mulroney), who’s launching a gubernatorial campaign.
Other members include:
- Callie (Jaime Ray Newman), married to the town sheriff
- Jill (Katie Lowes), wife of a powerful pastor and mother to teenage Brad (George Ferrier)
- And background figures like Monae and Taylor, more ornamental than influential
The group’s escapades at Margo’s lakehouse, drinking, hunting, and flirting, quickly blur the lines between fun and danger. Margo is clearly drawn to Sophie, and the tension between them simmers long before either woman acts on it.
Sophie’s Past, and the Secret That Follows Her
Sophie has a reason for her guarded nature. During a drunken night years earlier, she killed a woman in a car accident. That trauma, and the resulting CPS investigation, has shaped her present-day anxiety.
Callie, digging into Sophie’s past out of jealousy, obtains her sealed records. Sophie is forced to explain her history to the group, deepening tensions and exposing old wounds.
Entanglements, Affairs, and Power Plays
The social politics of Maple Brook are messy, and the show leans into every dark corner. On the surface, it’s a town shaped by church, family, and tradition, a place that prides itself on rules and righteousness. But behind closed doors, it’s a tangle of hypocrisy, lust, manipulation, and quiet perversion.
Brad, Jill’s son, is dating Abby (Madison Wolfe), the teenage daughter of single mother Starr (Chrissy Metz). But he’s also having an affair with Margo, a fact Sophie discovers and quietly holds onto.
Jill detests Abby for her working-class background, yet she seems disturbingly close to her own son. And there’s more: Callie and Margo are sleeping together, fueling quiet tensions within the group, when Sophie joins.
As for Margo and Jed, their marriage runs on a delicate, and deeply transactional agreement: no men for Margo, but women are fair game for both. It’s a carefully curated image designed to keep Jed’s political ambitions intact, even as their private life spirals into something far less controllable.
The Night Everything Goes Wrong
At one of Margo’s notorious lakehouse parties, Sophie and Margo finally give in to their mutual attraction. Brad and his friend Jamie are also present. The next morning, Sophie wakes up alone and realizes her handgun is missing.
Shortly after, Abby is found shot dead in the woods. The murder weapon is traced back to Sophie.
A Cover-Up, and Then a Betrayal
Initially, Margo backs Sophie with a fabricated alibi. But with Jed’s campaign heating up, protecting the couple’s image takes priority. Sophie is left exposed.
Callie, bitter over Margo cutting off their affair and suspicious that something is happening between Margo and Sophie, pressures her husband, the sheriff, to arrest Sophie. It’s less about justice and more about jealousy, and Sophie becomes the perfect target in Callie’s unraveling attempt to regain control.
Even Graham, Sophie’s husband, asks her to leave their home. Desperate, she starts her own investigation and tracks down Margo’s estranged brother, Kyle. He tells her that on the night of Abby’s murder, he overdosed, and Margo was with him at the clinic during his recovery. The alibi is later confirmed by the clinic’s doctor, which complicates Sophie’s theory and shifts suspicion elsewhere.
Sophie also learns a new twist: Youth Pastor Pete tells her that Brad confessed to him about Abby’s abortion shortly before her death.
The Pastor, the Kidnapping, and the Pattern of Violence
The series interweaves another case: the disappearance of Kaycee Krummel, a girl who vanished six months earlier. Deputy Wanda Salazar was nearly killed during the rescue attempt but survived. Her continued search connects back to Pete, who turns out to be the abductor and the man who shot her.
Pete dies by suicide during a police chase. Two girls, including Nina, Abby’s friend, are found alive in his van. Nina confirms she saw Abby’s cardigan in Pete’s car, adding new suspicion to the timeline.
But new video evidence shows Sophie in the woods with Abby the night she died. She’s arrested.
The Real Killer Revealed
Sophie is later freed when Jill is implicated in another crime. Suspicion starts to build after it’s revealed that Jill was the last person to call Abby before her death, and she deleted the GPS history from her car on the night of the murder. Margo and Callie grow increasingly uneasy, especially when Jill refuses to sign the NDAs Margo circulates and won’t delete compromising photos from their past.
As they begin to suspect Jill’s deeper involvement in Abby’s death, they decide to confront her. When they arrive at her house, they find Starr, Abby’s mother, stabbed to death in the kitchen. Starr had come to confront Jill after finding a negligee among Abby’s things and realizing the rumors about her daughter’s pregnancy might be true.
Jill, armed and unraveling, holds Margo and Callie at gunpoint. The standoff ends when Callie shoots and kill Jill in self-defense, exposing a woman desperate to bury the truth, no matter the cost.
For a moment, it seems Abby’s murder is closed. But then Sophie finds something, a box of tampons in Margo’s bathroom. This clashes with a memory from Episode 1, when Margo told Abby she couldn’t wear them.
Curious, Sophie researches medical reasons someone might avoid tampons. Abortion is at the top of the list.
So, Who Killed Abby Cook?
Margo did.
Abby discovered Margo was pregnant with Brad’s baby and threatened to expose it. Margo, desperate to protect herself and Jed’s campaign, killed her. Her father, the local doctor, helped cover it up by faking an alibi and also quietly performing the abortion.
When Sophie confronts Margo at a fundraiser, Margo confesses, claiming she didn’t lie to hurt Sophie, she genuinely hoped they still had a future together. Later that night, Margo comes clean to Jed, breaking the very rules that held their marriage together. She admits to sleeping with Brad, getting pregnant, and having an abortion.
But she leaves out one thing, that she killed Abby.
Jed, furious and politically exposed, throws her out.
Kyle’s Death and Sophie’s Final Descent
After deciding to go to the police, Sophie is intercepted by Kyle. In a heated, alcohol-fueled panic, she runs him over with her car. She dumps his body in the lake as Margo calls his phone. Sophie answers but says nothing. The silence is enough. Margo knows.
Could There Be a Season 2?
As of now, there’s been no official word on a second season of The Hunting Wives. Still, the way the story ends, with secrets half-buried, relationships shattered, and Sophie more compromised than ever, leaves nearly every door wide open. If Netflix or another platform chooses to revisit Maple Brook, there’s more than enough left to explore.
Why The Hunting Wives Is Only Streaming on Netflix U.S. Right Now
Netflix’s The Hunting Wives is currently available only in the U.S. due to licensing and distribution terms. Originally developed by Starz and produced by Lionsgate, the series was picked up by Netflix through a U.S.-only licensing deal finalized in June 2025.
Because it wasn’t developed in-house, it doesn’t carry the global “Netflix Original” label and is instead classified as a regional exclusive. The agreement gives Netflix exclusive U.S. streaming rights for one year, preventing its release in other territories during that time. After this window ends, the series could become available internationally, either on Netflix in other regions or through entirely different platforms, depending on future distribution deals.
And with the show leaving every door open for a potential continuation, it still leaves us wondering who, if anyone, will pick it up for a second season.
The Poster
