Netflix's 'gripping and stylish' cat and mouse thriller The Beast in Me is your essential new binge watch: cast, episodes, trailer
Branded vividly compelling from start to finish
Netflix combines the voyeuristic intensity of You with the female protagonist’s relentless drive of Mare of Easttown in this week’s top drop The Beast in Me – and wait until you see the cast.
From the mind of The X Files writer Gabe Rotter, Claire Danes and Matthew Rhys power this nerve-shaking drama. It’s ideal dark-night autumnal viewing, set to rival anything on our best shows to watch on Netflix list.
Allow us to walk you through everything there is to know about The Beast in Me on Netflix. From its cast and plot, to episode count and filming locations.
What’s The Beast in Me about?
The drama centres around ghost-of-her-former-self writer Aggie Wiggs, whose young son died in a car accident four years earlier.
When her new neighbour turns out to be Nile Jarvis, a “famed and formidable” real estate kingpin, Aggie identifies an unlikely subject for her next book. Compelled by the mystery of the man – Nile was previously the prime suspect in his wife’s murder – she finds herself “compulsively hunting for the truth”.
This is a game of cat and mouse that could turn deadly.
Link to Johnny Cash song
Music historians may have already spotted that the show shares its title with a Johnny Cash tune.
Released via his 1994 album Back in Black, the song intertwines with The Beast in Me’s themes of attraction to danger and complicity.
Netflix’s The Beast in Me cast is led by two Emmy winners
Pulitzer Prize-winning author Aggie Wiggs is played by the great Claire Danes. She’s best recognised for her parts in My So-Called Life, Stardust, Homeland, and Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet.
Showrunner Howard Gordon shared a few words about her casting in an interview with Tudum. “She really has that uniquely rare ability to convey the most interior thoughts, and you know what’s going on inside her,” he said. “There’s a fierce intelligence, but there’s also her vulnerability. She really conveys that.”
Speaking to TODAY, Claire herself claimed that she had to step in and have Nile’s original name changed in the script. He was down as Cyrus to begin with, but that’s the name of Claire’s real-life eldest son. “I was like, ‘Guys time out. I can’t have this association!'” she laughed.
Next we have Matthew Rhys as the “dangerous” and “charming” Nile Jarvis. He’s introduced to Aggie when she opposes his jogging path idea in the neighbourhood. The actor was exceptional in spy thriller The Americans and detective reboot Perry Mason.
“Matthew happens to be, aside from also another incredibly sweet guy, a fiercely good actor,” commented Howard. “And I have to confess, not only was I surprised by their chemistry, but I was surprised by how virtuosic he was.”
While promoting his latest project on Good Morning America, Matthew labelled The Beast in Me a “glorious, old-school Hitchcockian thriller”. Between them, Claire and Matthew have won four Emmy Awards.
Breaking Bad’s Jonathan Banks among supporting cast
Elsewhere in this eye-catching cast is Breaking Bad universe fixer Jonathan Banks as Nile’s father Martin. His grizzled and steady performance as Mike Ehrmantraut elevated every scene across his 84 episodes in Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul.
Pitch Perfect actress Brittany Snow appears as Nile’s wife Nina, Grey’s Anatomy star Natalie Morales is Aggie’s ex-wife Shelley, and The Penguin’s Deirdre O’Connell slips into the part of Aggie’s agent and friend Carol McGiddish.
ER’s David Lyons, Stargate SG-1’s Tim Guinee, Hannibal’s Hettienne Park, Charmed’s Aleyse Shannon, and The OA’s Will Brill also co-star.
Keep an eye out for Kate Burton, Bill Irwin, Amir Arison, and Julie Ann Emery as well.
Is The Beast in Me based on a book, or a true story?
The thriller is not based on a fictional novel. And yet, Howard told Creative Screenwriting that its creator Gabe Rotter was inspired by Trump: The Art of the Deal when he began putting ideas together around seven years ago.
“[Co-author] Tony Schwartz is at least partially responsible for creating this mythology of [Donald] Trump as this mastermind businessman, which some would argue is a fiction,” he shared. “I think Gabe Rotter was initially very drawn to this idea of a writer and a subject – truth, fiction. That relationship between author and subject that is not always as straightforward as it might seem.”
Published in 1987, Trump: The Art of the Deal is a mash-up of a memoir and a business-advice book. It reached the summit of The New York Times bestseller list and helped the current US President become a household name.
The Beast in Me reviews
At the time of writing The Beast in Me reviews are sparse, as the show is such a new release.
The Guardian wrote how the show is “melodramatic and overripe but undeniably gripping – and Danes does nervy, self-destructive anguish quite brilliantly”.
Vanity Fair described it as a “brainy, stylish cat-and-mouse thriller”, headlined by “two slithery performances – each impossible to pin down, but vividly compelling from start to finish”.
How many episodes are there?
The Beast in Me consists of eight episodes. Antonio Campos of HBO’s The Staircase directing fame yelled “ACTION!” on some of them.
Jodie Foster and Conan O’Brien are down as two of the executive producers.
Where was The Beast in Me filmed?
Filming locations for the new series included the city of Raleigh in North Carolina.
New Jersey features on screen in a major way too, as cameras filmed across Bergen County, Essex County, Hudson County, and the Red Bank borough last year.
The Beast in Me on Netflix release date
Streaming service Netflix releases The Beast in Me in its entirety tomorrow (Thursday, November 13).
Traditionally, new shows and movies become available to stream from 8am in the UK.
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