This spring, Shonda Rhimes is returning to the White House thanks to Netflix’s “The Residence.” And in its first trailer, the Uzo Aduba murder mystery created by Paul William Davies is dropping its first few clues ahead of its March 20 premiere.
When White House Chief Usher A.B. Wynter (Giancarlo Esposito) is found dead, the most powerful institution in America brings in Cordelia Cupp (Aduba), a wildly eccentric detective to solve the case. She will score through 132 rooms and 157 suspects all in the hopes of discovering what actually happened … but the further she dives into this mystery, the more convoluted it becomes.
In the first trailer, it’s revealed on the night of his death, A.B. said, “I am going to be dead by the end of the night.”
“I mean, it’s just something people say,” a panicked Ken Marino says. “I’ve never said that,” Aduba’s Cordelia shoots back, “has anyone here ever said, ‘I’m going to be dead by the end of the night?’”
Later in the video, rising White House Assistant Usher Jasmine Haney (Susan Kelechi Watson) lays out the stakes of the most famous mansion in the United States. “If you want to understand the White House residence, you have to understand this. We are the house. All these other people? They are not,” she says, dividing pictures of the suspects into those who work to maintain the residence and those who work for the President. “It’s us vs. them.”
The upcoming series has been described as “a screwball whodunnit set in the upstairs, downstairs and backstairs of the White House, among the eclectic staff of the world’s most famous mansion” in press releases for the show. In addition to Aduba, Esposito, Marino and Watson, “The Residence” also stars Randall Park, Jason Lee, Isiah Whitlock Jr., Edwina Findley, Molly Griggs, Al Mitchell, Dan Perrault, Bronson Pinchot, Julieth Restrepo, Mel Rodriguez and Mary Wiseman.
Prior to creating “The Residence,” Davies wrote on “Scandal,” Rhimes’ other show based in the White House, as well as “For the People.” Betsy Beers executive produces “The Residence” alongside Rhimes.
“The Residence” premieres March 20 on Netflix.
