Aggie is a Pulitzer Prize–winning memoirist living in the small town of Oyster Bay, New York, but has receded from public life in the four years since the tragic death of her young son, Cooper, in a car accident. Her wife, Shelley, divorced her two years after Cooper’s death, and now Aggie finds herself very much alone. 

“Aggie has these contrasting qualities, because I think she is very controlled and contained and hyper-analytical and cerebral,” Danes tells Tudum. “But she does also have these visceral, animalistic urges. Playing with that got to be fun, when I started to become more comfortable with those contrasts.”
 

Suffering from writer’s block, Aggie finds inspiration in a surprising place when Nile (Rhys), a notorious real estate developer who, she later learns, is widely believed to have killed his first wife and gotten away with it, moves to her block.  Aggie and Nile strike up a bizarre friendship — of sorts.

“To work with Claire in that respect makes your life as an actor that much easier because it’s all there — all you have to do is react, really,” Rhys tells Tudum about their shared scenes.

Danes starred in the spy thriller series Homeland for eight seasons, also executive produced by Gordon, a performance which earned her a Golden Globe award and multiple Emmy nominations. “Claire is so uniquely gifted. She really has that rare — uniquely rare — ability to convey the most interior thoughts,” says the showrunner. “She just has an incredible emotional intelligence about the characters. She really conveys that vulnerability.” 

Nile Jarvis is the impulsive scion of New York City real estate mogul Martin Jarvis. Smart — and surprisingly charming and funny when Aggie gets to know him — he also strikes her as a bit sociopathic.

“I was surprised by how virtuosic Matthew was,” says Gordon of the award-winning actor. “Colors that I’d only hoped for and imagined were so much more vivid. He really played every corner and every edge of even his silences, because everything is music. It really is. When are you seductive, and when are you dangerous?”

Since Nile’s wife Madison's disappearance in 2019, rumors have swirled that he must have killed her, but he was never arrested. The accusations put Nile squarely in the public eye and while they don’t hurt the family business, they do eventually drive Nile and his new wife, Nina (Brittany Snow), out of the city to Long Island where he becomes Aggie Wiggs’s neighbor. 

Rhys says playing Nile “was a balance because there was a warmth to him that is not overt on the page.” He adds that he wanted there to be “a humanity to him,” because both he and Aggie have been through so much in their lives. “There’s a damage to him that’s made him vulnerable,” Rhys says.

Rhys starred in the spy thriller The Americans for six seasons from 2013 to 2018, receiving Emmy and Golden Globe awards for his performance. 

Nina is an ambitious, Ivy League–educated New York City gallerist and Nile Jarvis’s second wife. Originally from a small working-class town in New Jersey, she’s tried hard to hide her origins and appear polished, disarmingly attractive, and warm. She has a strong survival instinct.

Snow, who only read the first two episodes when she auditioned, was drawn to the role of Nina because the producers made it clear she was more than just the wife. 

“There was something they alluded to that intrigued me. She was up to something,” says Snow. “There was something behind this front. And I could see that in the character, and I really wanted to join a show that would maybe subvert that genre a little bit and subvert that character — ‘Oh, you think she’s maybe just the wife?’ I do find that I get to play a lot of women who, on the surface, look and act a certain way, and then turn out to be something else. That always intrigues me.” 

Snow most recently appeared in the first season of the soapy thriller The Hunting Wives and Murdaugh: Death in the Family.

Shelley is an abstract painter and Aggie Wiggs’s ex-wife. She and Aggie divorced after the death of their young son, Cooper. She now lives in an artist's studio in Bushwick, Brooklyn, and is finally starting to paint again. In the aftermath of Cooper’s death and their split from each other, Shelley is emotionally calm and intelligent, where Aggie is reactive and frenzied. 

Morales has starred in movies such as No Hard Feelings and My Dead Friend Zoe, and has had recurring roles on television series Parks and Recreation, Santa Clarita Diet, Dead to Me , The Morning Show, and Grey’s Anatomy.

An FBI agent in the financial crimes division, Brian Abbott was once a rising star at the agency, leading a high-profile task force investigating the Jarvis family’s business. But when Nile’s first wife Madison went missing, the case took over Brian’s life, and he’s since become obssessed with convicting Nile by any means necessary. 

Lyons starred in the post-apocalyptic science fiction television series Revolution from 2012 to 2014, and in romantic drama Safe Haven in 2013.

As both Nile’s uncle and the troubled but fiercely loyal younger brother of Martin Jarvis, Rick “Wrecking Ball” Jarvis puts his intimidating presence to good use as Nile’s security detail. He’s served jail time for multiple felonies and will do whatever it takes to protect his older brother’s interests. 

Guinee also appeared in Homeland, alongside Danes.

Erika Breton works with Abbott in the financial crimes division of the FBI, but their relationship goes beyond the professional. 

Park was most recently seen playing another law enforcement official — a detective — in the crime thriller Black Rabbit. 

Martin Jarvis is Nile’s complicated and ruthlessly dangerous father. A self-made real estate magnate, Martin’s name is on more than 16 million square feet of real estate in New York City. Eager to ensure his legacy, he also has 7-year-old twin boys. 

Banks, who has received multiple Emmy and Golden Globe awards, played hit man and fixer Mike Ehrmantraut in the television series Breaking Bad from 2009 to 2013. He later reprised the role in the spin-offs Better Call Saul and El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie. 

Carol is Aggie's literary agent, longtime friend, and trusted adviser. Knowing what Aggie’s been through, she cuts her friend and client slack when writer’s block causes her to be late with pages. 

O’Connell was most recently seen in Ari Aster’s film Eddington, as well as the thriller series The Better Sister and 2024’s The Penguin.

Olivia Benitez is a city council member who opposes Nile’s business plans.

Shannon is best known for her roles in the 2019 remake of Black Christmas, and in 2018's Charmed reboot.

Chris is the brother of Nile’s missing wife, Madison. He wants to get to the bottom of what happened to his sister. 

Brill, who won a Tony Award for his performance in the acclaimed Broadway play Stereophonic,  has previously appeared in the series The OA and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.

Mariah is the mother of Nile’s missing wife, Madison Will she look beyond Nile’s explanation of what happened to her daughter?

Burton earned Emmys for her memorable performances of formidable characters in both Grey's Anatomy and Scandal.

James is Madison Jarvis’s father.

Irwin has regularly appeared as Dr. Peter Lindstrom on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, and had a recurring role as on CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. He won a Tony Award for his role in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? in 2005.

 Frank Breton is Agent Erika Breton’s ex-husband.

Arison is best known for portraying FBI tech expert Aram Mojtabai on The Blacklist for 10 seasons.

Lila Jarvis is Martin Jarvis’s current wife.

Emery also appeared in Better Call Saul alongside Banks.

Teddy is the young man whom Aggie blames for the death of her son. 

Weiler has appeared in films and television series including Puzzle, The Good Fight, Pose, Dopesick, Kaleidoscope, and Elementary. 

Madison is Nile’s long-missing wife. 

George has appeared in films and television series including Animal Kingdom, Mortal Engines, The Kid, and Disclaimer.