How well do you know the people living next door? In the upcoming limited series The Beast in Me, award-winning author Aggie Wiggs (played by Claire Danes, who also executive produces) finds herself trying to get to know her new neighbor as well as she possibly can — particularly when it seems he might be a worthy subject for her next book.
After an unspeakable tragedy, Aggie is grieving in private, unable to write. When famed and formidable real estate mogul Nile Jarvis (Matthew Rhys) moves in next door, installs a state-of-art security system (which includes two large and ferocious dogs), and announces big plans to build a jogging path through the under-utilized woods behind their homes for all the neighbors “to enjoy,” Aggie is instantly irked, but also intensely curious. When she puts his name into Google, her interest spikes further. As it turns out, Nile was once the prime suspect in his wife’s disappearance.
“One of the things that drew me to the show initially was that we’re living in a time with texts and threads and smearing people and jumping to conclusions, but it’s always been this way,” showrunner, executive producer, and writer Howard Gordon (Homeland) tells Tudum. “Whether it’s Monica Lewinsky or Amanda Knox or Nile Jarvis, sometimes we are quick to make assumptions, and to believe what we’re reading, and to be led to believe what we want to believe for whatever set of reasons. But when we are forced to look at it from another angle, do we have the humility and the compassion to listen, and to revise the narrative?”
Below, get to know all the players that shape Aggie’s perspective and narrative as she dives into Nile’s tale.
Claire Danes
as Aggie Wiggs
About the Character
Aggie is a Pulitzer Prize–winning memoirist living in the small town of Oyster Bay, New York, but has receded from public life in the four years since the tragic death of her young son, Cooper, in a car accident. Her wife, Shelley, divorced her two years after Cooper’s death, and now Aggie finds herself very much alone.
“Aggie has these contrasting qualities, because I think she is very controlled and contained and hyper-analytical and cerebral,” Danes tells Tudum. “But she does also have these visceral, animalistic urges. Playing with that got to be fun, when I started to become more comfortable with those contrasts.”
Suffering from writer’s block, Aggie finds inspiration in a surprising place when Nile (Rhys), a notorious real estate developer who, she later learns, is widely believed to have killed his first wife and gotten away with it, moves to her block. Aggie and Nile strike up a bizarre friendship — of sorts.
“To work with Claire in that respect makes your life as an actor that much easier because it’s all there — all you have to do is react, really,” Rhys tells Tudum about their shared scenes.
Previously In
Danes starred in the spy thriller series Homeland for eight seasons, also executive produced by Gordon, a performance which earned her a Golden Globe award and multiple Emmy nominations. “Claire is so uniquely gifted. She really has that rare — uniquely rare — ability to convey the most interior thoughts,” says the showrunner. “She just has an incredible emotional intelligence about the characters. She really conveys that vulnerability.”
Matthew Rhys
as Nile Jarvis
About the Character
Nile Jarvis is the impulsive scion of New York City real estate mogul Martin Jarvis. Smart — and surprisingly charming and funny when Aggie gets to know him — he also strikes her as a bit sociopathic.
“I was surprised by how virtuosic Matthew was,” says Gordon of the award-winning actor. “Colors that I’d only hoped for and imagined were so much more vivid. He really played every corner and every edge of even his silences, because everything is music. It really is. When are you seductive, and when are you dangerous?”
Since Nile’s wife Madison’s disappearance in 2019, rumors have swirled that he must have killed her, but he was never arrested. The accusations put Nile squarely in the public eye and while they don’t hurt the family business, they do eventually drive Nile and his new wife, Nina (Brittany Snow), out of the city to Long Island where he becomes Aggie Wiggs’s neighbor.
Rhys says playing Nile “was a balance because there was a warmth to him that is not overt on the page.” He adds that he wanted there to be “a humanity to him,” because both he and Aggie have been through so much in their lives. “There’s a damage to him that’s made him vulnerable,” Rhys says.
Previously In
Rhys starred in the spy thriller The Americans for six seasons from 2013 to 2018, receiving Emmy and Golden Globe awards for his performance.
Brittany Snow
as Nina Jarvis
About the Character
Nina is an ambitious, Ivy League–educated New York City gallerist and Nile Jarvis’s second wife. Originally from a small working-class town in New Jersey, she’s tried hard to hide her origins and appear polished, disarmingly attractive, and warm. She has a strong survival instinct.
Previously In
Snow most recently appeared in the first season of the soapy thriller The Hunting Wives and Murdaugh: Death in the Family.
Watch them on Netflix
Natalie Morales
as Shelley
About the Character
Shelley is an abstract painter and Aggie Wiggs’s ex-wife. She and Aggie divorced after the death of their young son, Cooper. She now lives in an artist’s studio in Bushwick, Brooklyn, and is finally starting to paint again. In the aftermath of Cooper’s death and their split from each other, Shelley is emotionally calm and intelligent, where Aggie is reactive and frenzied.
Previously In
Morales has starred in movies such as No Hard Feelings and My Dead Friend Zoe, and has had recurring roles on television series Parks and Recreation, Santa Clarita Diet, Dead to Me , The Morning Show, and Grey’s Anatomy.
David Lyons
as Agent Brian Abbott
About the Character
An FBI agent in the financial crimes division, Brian Abbott was once a rising star at the agency, leading a high-profile task force investigating the Jarvis family’s business. But when Nile’s first wife Madison went missing, the case took over Brian’s life, and he’s since become obssessed with convicting Nile by any means necessary.
Previously In
Lyons starred in the post-apocalyptic science fiction television series Revolution from 2012 to 2014, and in romantic drama Safe Haven in 2013.
Tim Guinee
as Rick “Wrecking Ball” Jarvis
About the Character
As both Nile’s uncle and the troubled but fiercely loyal younger brother of Martin Jarvis, Rick “Wrecking Ball” Jarvis puts his intimidating presence to good use as Nile’s security detail. He’s served jail time for multiple felonies and will do whatever it takes to protect his older brother’s interests.
Previously In
Guinee also appeared in Homeland, alongside Danes.
Watch them on Netflix
Hettienne Park
as Agent Erika Breton
About the Character
Erika Breton works with Abbott in the financial crimes division of the FBI, but their relationship goes beyond the professional.
Previously In
Park was most recently seen playing another law enforcement official — a detective — in the crime thriller Black Rabbit.
Watch them on Netflix
Jonathan Banks
as Martin Jarvis
About the Character
Martin Jarvis is Nile’s complicated and ruthlessly dangerous father. A self-made real estate magnate, Martin’s name is on more than 16 million square feet of real estate in New York City. Eager to ensure his legacy, he also has 7-year-old twin boys.
Previously In
Banks, who has received multiple Emmy and Golden Globe awards, played hit man and fixer Mike Ehrmantraut in the television series Breaking Bad from 2009 to 2013. He later reprised the role in the spin-offs Better Call Saul and El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie.
Watch them on Netflix
Deirdre O’Connell
as Carol McGiddish
About the Character
Carol is Aggie’s literary agent, longtime friend, and trusted adviser. Knowing what Aggie’s been through, she cuts her friend and client slack when writer’s block causes her to be late with pages.
Previously In
O’Connell was most recently seen in Ari Aster’s film Eddington, as well as the thriller series The Better Sister and 2024’s The Penguin.
Aleyse Shannon
as Olivia Benitez
About the Character
Olivia Benitez is a city council member who opposes Nile’s business plans.
Previously In
Shannon is best known for her roles in the 2019 remake of Black Christmas, and in 2018’s Charmed reboot.
Will Brill
as Chris Ingram
About the Character
Chris is the brother of Nile’s missing wife, Madison. He wants to get to the bottom of what happened to his sister.
Previously In
Brill, who won a Tony Award for his performance in the acclaimed Broadway play Stereophonic, has previously appeared in the series The OA and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.
Watch them on Netflix
Kate Burton
as Mariah Ingram
About the Character
Mariah is the mother of Nile’s missing wife, Madison Will she look beyond Nile’s explanation of what happened to her daughter?
Previously In
Burton earned Emmys for her memorable performances of formidable characters in both Grey’s Anatomy and Scandal.
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Bill Irwin
as James Ingram
About the Character
James is Madison Jarvis’s father.
Previously In
Irwin has regularly appeared as Dr. Peter Lindstrom on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, and had a recurring role as on CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. He won a Tony Award for his role in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? in 2005.
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Amir Arison
as Frank Breton
About the Character
Frank Breton is Agent Erika Breton’s ex-husband.
Previously In
Arison is best known for portraying FBI tech expert Aram Mojtabai on The Blacklist for 10 seasons.
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Julie Ann Emery
as Lila Jarvis
About the Character
Lila Jarvis is Martin Jarvis’s current wife.
Previously In
Emery also appeared in Better Call Saul alongside Banks.
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Bubba Weiler
as Teddy Fenig
About the Character
Teddy is the young man whom Aggie blames for the death of her son.
Previously In
Weiler has appeared in films and television series including Puzzle, The Good Fight, Pose, Dopesick, Kaleidoscope, and Elementary.
About the Character
Madison is Nile’s long-missing wife.
Previously In
George has appeared in films and television series including Animal Kingdom, Mortal Engines, The Kid, and Disclaimer.
Stream all eight episodes of The Beast In Me now. And keep coming back to Tudum for more reports from Oyster Bay.
