DETECTIVE DIRECTIVE “She takes everything literally,” Aduba says of her character. “That's how she listens and gets closer to the clues and the whodunit.” (The Ankler illustration; Netflix)
It might feel like a strange time to try and get anyone to watch a comedy set in the White House. Not much of what comes out of Washington feels very funny these days, and there have been so many political TV shows since The West Wing that it’s a tall order to even find a new angle on 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
But Netflix’s The Residence is, I assure you, not like any other White House show — and its star, Uzo Aduba, knows exactly why. “ I thought it was a joyful honoring allegory of the people’s house,” she says of the series, created by Paul William Davies and executive produced by Shonda Rhimes.“No administration, no party is the master of this house.”
The Residence is mostly about the staff who serve the president and his family, from the waiters working in the formal dining room to the head butler (played by Giancarlo Esposito) who dies under mysterious circumstances during a state dinner. Boston-born Aduba, 44, plays Cordelia Cupp, the brilliant, eccentric detective — and serious birder — who arrives at the White House to crack the case, interviewing guests, the First Family and the many oddball employees there who are all now suspects.
SOLEMN DUTY Giancarlo Esposito stepped in to play the White House head butler after Andre Braugher, who was originally cast, died suddenly in December 2023. (Netflix)
Playing Cupp required Aduba not just to wrap her mind around the temperament and mindset for detective work, but also to change her entire manner of speaking. “She talks way faster than I do,” says Aduba, a three-time Emmy winner now playing her first lead role in a recurring series. “I’m kind of like a lollygag talker, and she is really snap, snap, snap, on to the next thing. So from a technical end I changed the pitch that I speak at, which is just slightly higher than hers. I had to sort of drop her voice down a little bit, mostly because I realized that in order for me, Uzo, to talk that fast, I kind of had to not move my mouth as much.”
Aduba describes the experience of making The Residence as a joy she’d be glad to repeat if it’s picked up for future seasons. But the show also faced a major challenge midway through production, when Andre Braugher, who had originally been cast as the head butler, suddenly passed away at age 61 in December of 2023. Aduba calls it “not an easy chapter, to say the least,” and credits Esposito for stepping into the role, both making it his own and being a “steward of the memory of Andre.”
Hear my full conversation with Aduba on this week’s episode of the Prestige Junkie podcast, which also includes a check-in with my Ankler colleague Lesley Goldbergabout the current state of TV development and why The Pitt gives us both hope for what’s coming next.
A Case for Bleak TV & Feel-Bad Entertainment Katey finally got up her courage to watch The Pitt, finding catharsis and community in dark shows. Plus: Every awards show now has a good host!
🎧 Netflix’s Push for TV’s Final 80%Creators, podcasts, more sports: A playbook to convert the remaining audience watching something — anything — on screens is about to unfold
