INDIANAPOLIS — You're next whodunnit murder mystery is here!
In "Death and Other Details," an irksome passenger aboard a cruise ship is murdered. Thankfully, the world's greatest detective (Emmy and Tony winner Mandy Patinkin) is there to solve the case, with the assistance of Imogene Scott (Violett Beane), who finds herself in the wrong place at the wrong time as the prime suspect.
"It's so fun, it's enthralling, it's mysterious, it's got twists and turns that you will not expect," Beane said of the TV series.
As audiences quickly find out, the cruise ship isn't the first time Beane and Patinkin's characters meet each other.
"Working with Mandy was crazy, right? The guy's a legend." Beane said. "He's so seasoned and just a really skilled actor, so you naturally learn from that as well, just working in a scene with him."
And Patinkin isn't the only Tony winner among the cast, as Lauren Patten ("Jagged Little Pill") plays Imogene's wealthy best friend, Anna, who is on the verge of taking over her father's company.
"She's beautiful, she's fascinating, she's so intelligent," Beane said of Patten. "The way that we get to play off each other is so fun throughout the season, and the way that it ends is wild, so I'm looking forward to you guys seeing that."
"I think we have a dynamic where we're pretty different people and we get along really well, so I think our energies match Anna and Imogene's really well," Patten said of working with Beane.
According to the Gay & Lesbian Alliance and Defamation, there were 596 LGBTQ+ characters in TV shows during the 2022-23 season; however, plot points for many of these characters is a struggle with their sexuality, but that's not the case with Patten's character in "Death and Other Details."
"While it's so important for us to have explicitly queer stories that are telling our queer experiences, I was very excited to play a character that just is queer, she is a lesbian, and it wasn't a plot point, and it wasn't anything that comes up in a negative way," Patten said. "The more that we see ourselves existing in all types of stories, the more normalized our presence becomes."
One would think Beane could've draw inspiration from famous fictional detectives like Sherlock Holmes, Hercule Poirot (Agatha Christie character recently portrayed by Kenneth Branagh) and Benoit Blanc ("Knives Out" and "Glass Onion" detective portrayed by Daniel Craig); however, she cites a popular LAPD detective that won Peter Falk three Emmys.
"For me, I think the biggest inspiration was Columbo just because he's this guy that shouldn't be doing it, and that's Imogene for sure," Beane said. "His little tagline, 'one more thing,' sort of inspired Imogene's tagline of 'gross' every time she sees something that's too much for her to handle."
As for final words on "Death and Other Details," Beane said, "I guarantee you will not expect the ending."
And Patten agreed: "Nobody knows what's coming."
New episodes are released Tuesdays through March 5 on Hulu.