‘The Residence’: Molly Griggs on playing a ‘snobby, rich person’
Molly Griggs, one of the stars of Netflix’s “The Residence,” chats with USA TODAY’s Ralphie Aversa about her role and more.
Spoiler alert: This story contains details about the ending of Netflix series “The Residence” (now streaming).
NEW YORK ― It’s always the ones you least expect.
In Netflix’s murder mystery “The Residence,” fastidious Detective Cordelia Cupp (Uzo Aduba) is tasked with snooping out the killer of the White House’s longtime chief usher A.B. Wynter (Giancarlo Esposito), who’s found dead upstairs during a state dinner at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. By the eighth and final episode, all evidence seems to point toward blustering chief adviser Harry Hollinger (Ken Marino) or aggrieved assistant usher Jasmine Haney (Susan Kelechi Watson).
But it’s Lilly Schumacher (Molly Griggs), the president’s cavalier social secretary, who was responsible for poisoning A.B. and bludgeoning him with a clock. A nepo baby and influencer, Lilly had grand designs of completely revamping the White House à la Jackie Kennedy. Her kooky antics could easily be passed off as comic relief, as she throws fits over everything from Harry Styles to her woo-woo wellness initiatives. But in the end, we learn that Lilly frequently clashed with A.B., who threatened to expose her shady financial dealings and callous mistreatment of her colleagues.
Lilly represents the tension between the old and new guard, flouncing into the White House with a profound disregard for tradition and a voracious desire to tear it all down.
“It’s us versus them: the staff who have been here regardless of administration, versus the people who come in with the new president,” Griggs says. “Lilly very much embodies ‘them’ because she’s the one pulling all the strings.”
Why did Lilly kill A.B. in Netflix series ‘The Residence?’
“The Residence” is executive produced by Shonda Rhimes and created by Paul William Davies (“Scandal”). With roughly a dozen suspects in the mix, Davies toyed with all sorts of potential outcomes, and even considered having Lilly be the victim and A.B. the murderer. But A.B.’s decades-long service made him a more likely target.
“I liked the idea that the chief usher could engender so much hostility from so many different people,” Davies says. “That’s what you need in order to keep the list of suspects viable: a lot of different people who might’ve interacted with the victim in a way that could turn ugly.”
Lilly, meanwhile, feels right at home in our current political landscape. The entitled daughter of a casino magnate, she doesn’t believe in the ideals of equity and teamwork, nor does she feel that rules apply to her.
“She has no fear of retribution; she’s like, ‘My lawyers will fix this,’” Griggs says. “Even when Lilly is being escorted out of the room to be arrested, I don’t think she feels like she got ‘got.’ When I think about it in the context of how our country works, and the people who have power and the people who don’t, there is that sense of, ‘I’m untouchable. I can have whatever I want and no one can stop me.’”
In the finale, Detective Cupp calls all the suspects together in a room, where Lilly breaks down crying as she tries to pin the murder on housekeeper Elsyie (Julieth Restrepo) and engineer Bruce (Mel Rodriguez), claiming that she tried to help cover their tracks because she felt sorry for them. Davies says he wrote that Hail Mary after casting Griggs, knowing “she had the skills to pull off” Lilly’s heel turn from seemingly compassionate to frightfully calculating.
Aduba was equally impressed by Griggs’ subtly devious work: “I thought it was genius,” says the three-time Emmy winner (“Orange is the New Black”). “She knew what Lilly represented. She gave a master class on gaslighting and how power can be utilized to disadvantage some.” The scene, ultimately, is “a thorough example of who gets believed and how easily they are.”
Davies plants Easter eggs that Lilly’s the killer in Episode 1: In a doll’s house view of the White House, eagle-eyed viewers can catch Lilly opening the door of the Yellow Oval Room, where she attempts to stash evidence. She also has a prolonged stare-down with Cordelia when they first meet, hinting at “the beginning of a showdown really early on,” Griggs says.
Molly Griggs also stars in Broadway’s ‘John Proctor is the Villain’
“The Residence” marks a breakthrough moment for Griggs, 31, who has been a steady TV presence in Fox’s “Prodigal Son,” Apple TV+’s “Servant” and Peacock’s “Dr. Death.” (You may also remember her as Grace, Roman’s girlfriend, in Season 1 of HBO’s “Succession.”)
After making her Broadway debut in “Hello, Dolly!” in 2018, Griggs is back on the New York stage this spring in “John Proctor is the Villain,” a dark comedy starring Sadie Sink (“Stranger Things”). The story is set in the wake of the Me Too movement, following a Georgia high-school English class as they read Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible.”
“It’s made by women for young women, but it’s a play for everybody,” says Griggs, who portrays concerned guidance counselor Bailey. “It can help us continue to ask questions about these murky gray areas in our lives and what behavior is acceptable.”
Coincidentally, “John Proctor” began performances March 20, the same day “The Residence” arrived on Netflix. On her next day off, Griggs plans to have a watch party at home in Brooklyn with her husband, friends and pet pitbull Izzy. (Although, “she doesn’t really understand screens. I don’t think she’ll have any recognition it’s me, like, ‘Mommy killed A.B.?’”)
For any actor, “it’s a miracle to be doing one thing in this business, so to have two things at the same time feels special,” Griggs says. “My younger self would be so geeked. I feel really calm and excited right now – but talk to me in 24 hours!”
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