‘The Hunting Wives’ Creator Rebecca Cutter Talks Her Show’s Success, Season 2 Hopes, And That Surprising Episode 7 Sex Scene: “Straight People Do It, Gay People Do It, People Do It”

The Hunting Wives creator Rebecca Cutter is unapologetic about making television that will turn heads. That’s exactly what this show is.

**Spoiler alert for The Hunting Wives Season 1**

After premiering on Netflix in mid-July, her take on May Cobb’s novel has taken off, repeatedly topping the Netflix Top 10 charts, spending week after week raking in new and returning audience members. (It’s still sitting at #3 as of this writing.)

Why has the show found such success on the platform where dozens of new shows have been released over the last six weeks? Could it be the X-rated sapphic storyline between Sophie (Brittany Snow) and Margo (Malin Akerman)? Or maybe it’s the campy vibe that has fans laughing at the outlandish lives of its main characters. Or perhaps it’s the Episode 7 sex scene between Sheriff Jonny (Branton Box) and Callie (Jaime Ray Newman), which features the latter character pegging the former, much to the shock of social media users who have recapped the series.

“That came straight from my mind,” Cutter said of that standout scene. “In the writers’ room, we talked a lot about Johnny and Callie as this ambiguous couple. We first came up with this scene early on, where he’s talking to this other deputy, and the other deputy jumps up when Callie walks in the room. We were like, ‘What if we never define his sexuality, but there’s this hint that there’s something else going on.’”

Cutter continued, “And so we thought that played really well. As it went on, the pegging just came to us, and we were like, ‘Let’s just go for it.’ It doesn’t even define anything — like, straight people do it, gay people do it, people do it. It is what it is.”

And what it is is a hit. Word of mouth has clearly spread and garnered the level of attention a series creator and showrunner can only ever dream of, a level the series creator calls “unbelievable.” Despite the success, the series’ overwhelming popularity, Netflix has yet to press the button and give The Hunting Wives Season 2 the all-clear.

For those out there who are worried, though, slow down; it’s no reason to fret. Netflix often takes its sweet time renewing shows, even when the shows are doing numbers like The Hunting Wives is. No sweat, Cutter says she will be ready to go when the green light comes in. To hear about her plans for the second season, the wild achievements of Season 1, and more, check out DECIDER’s full interview with Cutter below.

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I want to start by congratulating you on this incredible series, I’ve seen so many TikToks on this show — what has it been like for you watching all of this unfold in real time? 

REBECCA CUTTER: It’s unbelievable. I know they always say, “Don’t read the comments,” that’s just not me. I have to see what the people are talking about. I look at all the TikToks, I look at Instagram. And to see that love, and to see people get what I was going for and even get things I wasn’t going for, and seeing themselves, questioning themselves. I mean, it’s so fantastic. It’s a dream. I have to really stay present and enjoy it because I know these things don’t happen that often. So it’s a really exciting time for me.

Has there been a running conversation with Malin or with Britney? I’ve seen some of their Instagram posts, and I think they are similarly in the boat of, “We can’t believe how much this has taken off.”

Yes, there’s a group chat with me, Malin, Brittany, Katie Lowes, and Jaime. It’s pretty fun, it’s pretty steamy. It was just so fun watching it every day, inching up, and sending each other edits, and sending each other reviews and texts from people, screenshots of things, just to be a part of that. It’s so fun. I think all of us are feeling recognized in a way that maybe we hadn’t been, or just in different ways, you know? So it’s amazing.

When you first came to the book, what was it that really stuck out to you that said, “This might be something that is worth interpreting and bringing to the screen?“

I loved the unapologetic horniness of the book. Everyone’s sleeping with everyone, and it’s fiercely bisexual, and just like, people behaving badly. So I thought that was really fun and exciting. This isn’t really in the book, but I was excited by the idea of making it very culturally now and not shying away from the kind of culture clash that might be. In the book, Sophie’s from Texas and she’s going back, but in the show, she’s from the East Coast and she’s going there for the first time and feels like a complete fish out of water. I saw that and I thought, I’m trying to be edgy, and there’s something edgy about that that’s really fun to explore. I feel like I hadn’t seen something name that like that. There’s going to be a red/blue culture clash. So that was sort of scary. I was like, this could go very, very wrong, but it could be amazing. So those two elements, the female sexuality and the red state/blue state, and then how those two things tie into the actual plot. And murder mystery plotting is my favorite thing to do. So it had all the ingredients. And I love May, and May gave me her full blessing to do what I had to do.  

I love how the scenes were all really purposeful, each one did something for the story. Were there any sex scenes that were on the cutting room floor that you were like, maybe they have this one extra scene in a second season?  

I don’t think so, because like you said, every scene either reveals character or reveals plot. There’s a lot of power dynamics at play, and especially with Margo, she uses sex to get what she wants. And a lot of times that is power or regaining her power. So I felt like every sex scene had a reason and I can’t think of anything that was cut. I think it’s all in there. There’s no secret footage anywhere that anyone’s going to want to get their hands on.  

One of my favorite sex scenes is between Callie and Johnny, and I think it’s one that people like. Every TikTok I’ve seen about this show has mentioned the pegging scene. There was also a scene in Episode 4 where Kelly injects Johnny with what we can only assume is anabolic steroids. How did that come into play?

That came straight from my mind. In the writers’ room, we talked a lot about Johnny and Callie as this ambiguous couple. We first came up with this scene early on where he’s talking to this other deputy, and the other deputy jumps up when Callie walks in the room. We were like, “What if we never define his sexuality?” But there’s this hint that there’s something else is going on. And so we thought that played really well. As it went on, the pegging just came down so we were like, let’s just go for it. It doesn’t even define anything — like, straight people do it, gay people do it, people do it. It’s like, it is what it is.

But I do think it speaks to a dynamic in their relationship, which is that she is kind of pushing him and topping him and trying to get him to do this thing. It’s Lady Macbeth, really. She is behind the scenes trying to get it done, partly for her lady love, Margo. Also, I think the actor who plays Sheriff Johnny Brandt is such a manly man. He’s this strapping six-foot-five guy. One of the questions when he auditioned was like, ‘Are you down for this?’ [And he said] ‘Yeah, whatever.’ There’s something so sexy about that because you could never mistake him for anything other than masculine. So I don’t know. Something about that made it sexier to me.

I know you guys haven’t officially gotten the green light, but how do we expand upon that for Season 2? What are you hoping for and looking forward to doing?

The heart of the show is Sophie and Margo. This is my second murder mystery show, and there’s always at least 1 or 2 threads that run through. In this show, to me, Season 1 was: Where are Margo and Sophia at in their trajectory, and where are we at in the murder mystery? You need both things firing on all cylinders to keep people locked in. So I have a lot in my mind for Season 2 about Sophie and Margo, also about some murder stuff. And then there’s a reality show on the horizon, maybe some new people come to town. Maybe there’s some new troubles that arise. We have our two wonderful cop characters, Salazar and Flynn. So there’s a lot stewing in my brain right now for Season 2.

The Hunting Wives Season 1 is currently streaming on Netflix.