[Editor's note: The following contains spoilers through the finale episode of Candy, “The Fight."]Things get increasingly dark and tense as Candy progresses, but Episode 4 does offer a nice little surprise via casting choices. Not only is it revealed that Jessica Biel’s husband, Justin Timberlake, is playing the lead detective on the case, but also that Melanie Lynskey’s husband, Jason Ritter, is his partner.
The Hulu series is inspired by the true story of Candy Montgomery (Biel). She seems to be the perfect 1980s housewife, a loving wife and mother with a beautiful home who always goes above and beyond, and functions as the Queen Bee of the community. However, then she becomes the chief suspect in the murder of her neighbor, Betty Gore (Lynskey).
Despite all of Candy’s efforts, there’s no hiding what she did and come Episode 4, “Cover Girl,” the cops get involved. The show never breaks stride in depicting the severity of Candy’s downward spiral, but the reveal of Timberlake and Ritter’s involvement functions as a nice little surprise amidst the growing tension. During my recent interview with Biel and Lynskey, we saved the last few minutes of the chat for spoilers and, of course, I had to ask how Timberlake and Ritter wound up in those roles. Biel began:
“We just wanted that little tickly moment when those two show up. Justin’s idea. He wanted to play that part. I thought he was kidding. We were hiring a local person, and we had spent all our money on our main cast, and he just said, ‘No, I’ve gotta do this part. I know what to do. I know how I can make this happen.’”
Lynskey took over to explain how a Christmas photo led to Ritter’s casting:
“It was Christmas and I took a picture of my husband who was hanging out with me in Atlanta and was bored and had grown an extremely impressive mustache. I took a picture of him with our daughter and I sent it and I said, ‘Oh, hi everybody!’ And Robin [Veith], who was on our group text, was like, ‘Oh my god, Jason’s 80s look is really inspiring me.’ So she asked if he would maybe be interested in playing the other detective, and then it turned into the bromance of the ages.”
Another rather striking element of the tail end of the series was showrunner Robin Veith's approach to bringing the end of the trial to screen. Rather than keep the focus on Candy and those who were able to be in the courtroom that day, they include Betty’s reaction to the proceedings. Lynskey weighed in on that choice and how she approached those scenes:
“Michael Uppendahl also directed Episode 5 and I was very, very grateful because, again, I just trust him the most. And there are moments where I felt very vulnerable. It’s a very weird position to be in. And I just was like, ‘Does this look crazy?’ And he was just like, ‘I promise you if it does, it’s not gonna be in the show. I promise you.’ So I just was able to really go there because I knew he wouldn’t — I just think he’s such a craftsman. And also I really love that Robin had that idea, that Robin was as protective of Betty as I was. She wanted her to have a voice, and I just think it’s a very moving and beautiful way to do that. And Robin’s just such an openhearted, beautiful human being.”
Looking for even more from Lynskey and Biel? In case you missed it, you can catch the non-spoiler portion of our conversation below: