Elizabeth Olsen Is Going To Play A Homicidal Housewife

With the smashing success of WandaVision, Elizabeth Olsen is riding a meteoric wave in Hollywood. Now, she’s been cast in a new role that is in a completely different dimension from the Scarlet Witch’s chaotic sitcom realm. Though, it takes place in a very similar setting: the suburbs of America.

Olsen has been cast as Candy in the upcoming HBO Max series Love and Death. It’s a chilling true story of how, in 1980, Candy Montgomery murdered her friend Betty Gore by chopping her up with an axe. Still, as in Romeo and Juliet, knowing how it ends isn’t as fascinating as the events leading up to the climactic finale. The murder was the culmination of a shocking web of adultery, substance abuse, the ennui of being a young housewife in the 1980s, and a church congregation that was, perhaps, a little too involved in the lives of its congregants. (Interestingly, Elisabeth Moss was once attached to separate production about the same story, though it’s no longer listed on her IMDb).

The story was first published in 1984 by Texas Monthly in a two-part investigative report. If you can stomach reading the series, you’ll see why it was destined for a dramatic adaptation. It combines Mean Girls, Thelma & Louise, and Lizzie, and is proof that, sometimes, reality is creepier than the Marvel Cinematic Universe. This story truly has it all.

Luckily, a murder of this magnitude will be helmed by industry veterans who are experienced with psychodramas. Nicole Kidman, who starred in the legendarily creepy Eyes Wide Shut and equally harrowing Big Little Lies, will be executive producing the series. David E. Kelley, who also worked on Lies with Kidman, is writing the script; Kelley also created Boston Law and Harry’s Legal, so there will undoubtedly be some high-stakes courtroom procedural scenes as Montomgery is tried for the crime.

“We cannot imagine a more perfect artist to play the leading role of Candy than Elizabeth Olsen,” Kevin Beggs of Lionsgate Television told Variety. “Her talent, charisma and energy can bewitch audiences like no other.” Bewitching is one adjective, but after watching this series unfold, we’re going with homicidal.