Netflix 'The Residence' star didn't want anyone to spoil the ending of the murder mystery for her

Yahoo

20-03-2025

The new Shondaland murder mystery series on Netflix, The Residence starring Uzo Aduba, is a fun and suspenseful adventure to try to solve the case of the the death of A.B. Wynter (Giancarlo Esposito), former chief usher at the White House. But there's so much curiosity built up in the story that one of the show's stars, Susan Kelechi Watson, who plays Jasmine Haney, Wynter's assistant, didn't want to find out the ending the mystery before reading it herself.
"I chose not to to find out and when people were talking about it, I'd be like, 'Don't say anything'!'" Watson told Yahoo Canada. "And then I tried not to read the last episode all the way through until I had to, just because I like murder mysteries, and I like the journey you go on."
"If it doesn't have your head swinging like a tennis match, then it's not good."
The Residence begins at the White during a state dinner hosting Australia's prime minister, with a special performance from Kylie Minogue. While all the staff are working overtime to make sure the event is executed perfectly, that's when Wynter's dead body is discovered, with the president's advisor, Harry Hollinger (Ken Marino), quick to identify the situation as a suicide. But the Metropolitan Police Department calls in consultant Cordelia Cupp to investigate Wynter's death.
Cordelia is paired with Edwin Park (Randall Park) to help her navigate her investigation during a massively important dinner, even though Cordelia is initially quite resistant to his assistance in any capacity.
Wynter's assistance Jasmine is someone who is initially quite helpful for Cordelia to get the lay of the land, and in understanding operations at the residence of the president, even though she's also an early suspect.
Throughout the eight episodes, we're peeling back the layers on Cordelia's investigation into every possible circumstance that could have led to Wynter's death. All why a Senate committee hearing is being held about the probe into Wynter's death.
"I was enjoying them laughing and turning the pages and racing to the next one before we started production," Aduba said about working on The Residence. "And then to watch the world really, frankly, come to life with the actors in our show who breathe that life and exceptionalism into each part, was just wonderful."
"It was amazing to watch how whip smart and quick everybody's humour and style was. And you just felt the entire experience elevate and rise. And it was just wonderful."
Aduba also praised her costar Randall Park, with Cordelia and Edwin very much become a dynamic duo throughout the course of the show.
"In real life, the moment we met we just clicked right away and became fast friends," Park said about working with Aduba. "And so playing those initial scenes of the show was always a little jarring, because ... Cordelia is so cutting and Uzo is so locked in as an actor."
"He's persistent. That's the thing about Edwin Park. ... And I think both of their journeys together are one of growth, and I think they come out of it better. Certainly Edwin comes out of it a better detective, and Cordelia maybe understands the the collaborative process a little more than she had at the beginning."
While Cordelia is a character you'll love right away, very to the point, and quick to point out just how many men are working around her, Ken Marino's character Harry isn't particularly likeable at the beginning. He's clearly someone who got his job just because of his friendship with the president, and really just wants to clean up this mess as soon as possible, and has no problem being arrogant and brash trying to do it.
"I feel like in that first episode, Harry's ... an important character to set the tone of the show, and the comic elements of it, or the heightened stakes of it," Marino said. "And so it was exciting to get som fun mouthfuls of dialogue."
"He's a jerk. He is a bull in a china shop kind of guy. But for me, as an actor, I love parts like that. My job is not to, especially in a murder mystery, make you like me. My job is to make you suspect that I did something wrong."
But in true Shonda Rhimes fashion, we're not just getting a murder mystery, there's also space to dive deeper into the character of Cordelia, understanding more about who she is as a person, not just a detective, injecting an appealing humanity into the story.
In Episode 4 we go back to Cordelia's childhood as she's telling her nephew about a time when she was a kid and went on a mission to find his mother's missing strawberry sock.
Aduba said that episode helped her "land the plane" on who Cordelia is.
"You realize that she's had some pretty big challenges and traumas in her own life from an early age, and ... when I was reading that episode with her nephew, and you realize that as far back as we've taken her, meaning to little Cordelia, we actually haven't seen her," Aduba said. "We didn't get to see her before the trauma, so maybe she wasn't even this way before."
"But in order to handle loss, grief, all of these things, maybe, and to get through life, that wall was built so that she could move on, move through things, and you start to understand a little bit more of why she is the way she is. Why the dynamics play the way they play, from relationship to relationship."
The actor highlighted one line in that episode where Cordelia says to her nephew, "I love your mom. I didn't like to see her cry and I told her I was going to find her strawberry sock and I did find it. That's what I could do for your mom."
"I remember thinking about that and saying to myself that, oh even though she's giving these straight faces and not showing her cards, or tipping her hand, she does feel things. She does have feelings. She does care," Aduba said. "And it then explained to me how she was able to make that turn later in a relationship with Edwin, how it can evolve, because of his own persistence in proving that he is her equal, but also she could receive, in her own way, again, that extension of friendship."