This story begins in the most Washington way possible: with watching C-SPAN.
A few years ago, Shonda Rhimes and her producing partner Betsy Beers asked Paul William Davies, who wrote for “Scandal” and created “For the People,” to take a look at journalist Kate Anderson Brower’s 2015 book about the lives of the White House’s household staff. Intrigued by revelatory anecdotes from maids, butlers and cooks who worked across administrations, Davies kept digging. He found himself unexpectedly mesmerized by a C-SPAN video of the White House chief usher testifying during the Clinton-era Whitewater hearings. He hadn’t given much thought to the person in charge of running operations at the famous home, let alone all the secrets he might hold.
Davies let his imagination run wild. What if something were to happen to the chief usher, the glue holding the White House together? How would that impact the rest of the staff — or even the president? He ended up pitching “The Residence,” a Netflix series named after Brower’s book, which takes the form of a murder mystery. It follows an idiosyncratic detective (Uzo Aduba) as she investigates the murder of the chief usher (Giancarlo Esposito) during a state dinner.
End of carousel
Coming from Shondaland, you might expect “The Residence” to be a bit soapy. But the eight-episode run, which premieres Thursday, inhabits a more comedic space. Davies, who wrote the entire show, grounds the high-stakes high jinks with a carefully executed whodunit that — similar to the murder-mystery film series “Knives Out” — makes the most of its star-studded ensemble cast. Aduba and Esposito are joined on-screen by Susan Kelechi Watson (“This Is Us”), Ken Marino (“Party Down”) and Randall Park (“Fresh Off the Boat”), among others.
“Tonally, this fills a completely different bucket than you normally see a Shondaland show living in,” Rhimes said. “Our shows are funny, but … this show has a much drier sense of humor.”
Earlier this month, Davies and his cast chatted with The Washington Post at the People’s House, an interactive museum created by the White House Historical Association, which includes a full-scale replica of the Oval Office. But Davies was more interested in the dollhouse-size models of different rooms in the White House. They reminded him of the possible murder scenes in Clue.
The classic board game and its campy movie adaptation are obvious influences on “The Residence.” Was the chief usher, A.B. Wynter, murdered in the Yellow Oval with a candlestick? Or maybe it happened in the Lincoln Bedroom with a revolver? Rather than at a party in Mr. Boddy’s secluded mansion, though, A.B. is killed as his colleagues scramble downstairs to put on a state dinner for Australia — which has a tense political relationship with the United States in this fictional universe.
“I wanted to keep it to one night, and a state dinner seemed like a good way to do that,” Davies said. “You get the pageantry of it and also the widest array of possible suspects. You have this tension with Australia and folks that have it in for the administration. The spectacle of it was fun.”
Why Australia? Well, they have fun accents. But the country is also an “unexpected” antagonist, said Davies, who aimed to distance the U.S. politics of “The Residence” from our current reality. He started working on the show during the first Trump administration and, though it is being released during the second, he said the fictional happenings are “not tethered to any of that.”
“One of the beauties to me of murder mysteries is that they’re kind of timeless,” he added.
Every entry to the genre needs a believable victim. Not only is the chief usher the household staff’s top boss, but Esposito plays him with the steadfast gravitas of a former military man — which rubs some zany colleagues the wrong way. The role was originally held by Andre Braugher, who died in December 2023 soon after the Hollywood strikes suspended the show’s production. When shooting resumed in 2024, Esposito, a longtime friend of Braugher’s, replaced him in the role.
“I don’t normally like to step in, but because I knew this man and his incredible work, I took a look at everything and thought, ‘Oh, this is a great opportunity to honor him,’” Esposito said in a phone interview. “The chief usher is not only responsible for having everything run smoothly for the president, but is also responsible for everything he comes into contact with … down to the plumbing and the carpentry, he has to coordinate all those things. It’s a big undertaking for one man.”
If anyone were to benefit from taking out the chief usher, it would be his ambitious underling, Jasmine Haney (Watson), the assistant usher. After A.B.’s death, Jasmine serves as a liaison between investigators and the staff. She operates as the straight man in this comedy, guiding viewers through the story, and reinforces the rules of propriety upheld by her late boss.
Watson accompanied Davies to the People’s House — along with co-stars Aduba, Marino and Park — and sat for an interview just steps from the real White House. They shot the series during the previous administration, and Watson met with an assistant usher who served the Bidens. She was struck by “how professional [the staff has] to keep it, how very non-biased and nonpartisan.”
“They’re really in service of the house itself,” Watson said. “I think viewers will be fascinated by all these positions we didn’t know existed because we’re always very focused on the West Wing.”
The West Wing and its inhabitants do figure in the show, of course — but in the least Sorkin sense. Because the president (Paul Fitzgerald) and his husband (Barrett Foa) were busy entertaining the Australian prime minister (Julian McMahon) during the murder, the spotlight is instead on chief adviser Harry Hollinger (Marino), known for meddling behind the scenes. Marino plays Harry as a buffoon. He has an inflated ego, overcompensating for his lack of relevant skills.
“Every White House has a pit bull,” Marino said. “The president just has to be like, ‘I’m bringing this guy in as my adviser,’ and they don’t have to go through Congress to get approved. They feel like they can say and do anything they want, and tend to sometimes come off a little abrasive.
“Some might say currently, you know, that might be happening. Some might say.”
Harry tries to bulldoze his way through most conflicts but shrinks in the presence of Cordelia Cupp (Aduba), an acclaimed private detective brought in by the D.C. police. Unfazed by the White House’s splendor, Cordelia maintains a laser focus. She spooks suspects into speaking the truth by repeating her questions until they crumble under pressure. Sometimes, her tactics are a bit odd: An avid birder, Cordelia often draws inspiration from avian behavioral patterns to predict how a suspect might respond to a situation.
“She’s so unapologetically herself,” Aduba said. “It doesn’t matter that she’s in a room, in a house, in a space that is so monumental and iconic and foreign to her. She knows she, in this arena, is the best person for handling this. She is unintimidated by the house and its administrative staff.”
Park is a foil to Cordelia as Edwin Park, a bumbling FBI agent who trails the detective as she questions the White House staff and state dinner guests after the event. While Cordelia keeps most of her emotions concealed, Edwin mirrors viewers’ reactions with raised eyebrows and grimaces. “He communicates so much with his eyes,” Davies said of Park. “He’s really brilliant.”
This contrast becomes especially stark when the pair enter ludicrous situations: Dinner guest Kylie Minogue, who plays herself, only agreed to perform at the dinner on the condition that she be allowed to sleep in the Lincoln Bedroom — and now investigators are saying she can’t? How dare they!
Other notable cameos include Isiah Whitlock Jr. as the police chief who brings Cordelia in and Al Franken as the U.S. senator — yes, seriously — who leads the committee hearing on the murder. After Franken agreed to the tongue-in-cheek casting, Davies wrote additional scenes for him to play off a very goofy Marino “because I wanted to see that.”
Marino and Park took turns geeking out over the scenes they shared with the SNL veteran. “That was surreal,” Park said. Marino added, “It’s sort of a bucket list thing.”
Franken’s character, ostensibly a Democrat, tries to strike deals behind closed doors with Harry and a member of the opposing party. But that’s about as far as the politics of this show go. Davies and the cast members each reiterated that “The Residence” is a whodunit that just happens to take place at the executive mansion. The apolitical storytelling is almost a statement in itself.
“There’s something quietly subversive about putting the spotlight on the people working behind the scenes,” Park said. “It’s like the set of a show: You have us in front of the camera, but there are so many people behind the scenes, carrying lights, making sure everything is perfect. The show would not happen without them, and it’s the same for the White House. These people are essential.”
