Shondaland’s White House whodunnit The Residence shares premiere date and first look
Netflix’s The Residence was the last series Andre Braugher filmed before he died. Giancarlo Esposito stepped into the role.
Photo: Erin Simkin/Netflix
Clue is getting the presidential treatment. While not officially tied to the beloved board game, new Shonadaland offering The Residence sure sounds like a big-league version of that classic setup. “132 rooms. 157 suspects. One dead body. One wildly eccentric detective. One disastrous State Dinner,” the Netflix series’ official logline reads. “The Residence is 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.” Colonel Mustard wouldn’t stand a chance.
Luckily, there’s a different detective on this case: Cordelia Cupp (Uzo Aduba), the “most sought-after investigator in the world.” (Apparently, she’s also an avid birder.) “This case is unsolvable to everyone except Cordelia Cupp,” Aduba said of her sharp and eccentric protagonist. That’s sure to piss off her assigned partner, Edwin Park (Randall Park), a “skeptical FBI agent… [who] harbors skepticism about Cupp’s unconventional methods.” You can check out a first look at their characters in the photo above.
The Residence is also significant because it was the last show Brooklyn Nine-Nine star Andre Braugher worked on before his death last December. Unfortunately, due to production delays from the strikes last summer, Braugher was never able to finish his scenes and Giancarlo Esposito was recast in his role (A.B. Wynter, the White House’s chief usher). Because of the swap, the scenes Braugher filmed will not appear in the final product. “I couldn’t be prouder and more honored to be stepping into Shondaland’s The Residence for someone that I loved and respected and cherished in Andre Braugher,” Esposito said in a statement, via The Hollywood Reporter. “To be afforded the opportunity to create in his honor with this incredible team extends the depth and breadth of his legacy through all of us who loved him so dearly.”
The Residence also stars Edwina Findley, Molly Griggs, Jason Lee, Ken Marino, Al Mitchell, Dan Perrault, Bronson Pinchot, Julieth Restrepo, Mel Rodriguez, Susan Kelechi Watson, Isiah Whitlock Jr., Mary Wiseman and more. All eight episodes of the series premiere March 20 on Netflix.