Malin Akerman reveals Melania Trump was the inspiration for her Hunting Wives character

Akerman leads new Netflix drama series, ‘The Hunting Wives,’ alongside Brittany Snow

Swedish-American actor Malin Akerman has revealed how her character in The Hunting Wives takes inspiration from First Lady Melania Trump.

Akerman stars in Netflix’s new eight-episode drama as wealthy housewife Margo. The series, an adaptation of May Cobb’s 2021 thriller, follows Sophie (Brittany Snow) as she trades city living for East Texas, where she falls in with a clique of socialite housewives who are hiding deadly secrets.

Speaking to Vulture in a new interview, Akerman explained that while filming, the show’s creative team likened the group’s leader, Margo, to Trump, a person who “came into a marriage to this rich man as one woman.” Similar to Trump’s trajectory, expectations for Margo also shift when her husband pursues a career in politics.

“That was the only reference, really,” the Watchmen alum said. “Other than that, it’s just high society. I’ve mingled with aristocrats and high-society people and seen the games that go into it. For lack of a better word, I wouldn’t say ‘authenticity’ is how those people lead.”

While The Hunting Wives was initially released on the streamer last month, it has more recently seen a surge in viewership. It’s now ranks No. 3 on Netflix’s top 10 most-watched series, behind Jenna Ortega’s macabre hit Wednesday and WWE’s Raw.

Malin Akerman stars as Margo Banks in 'The Hunting Wives.' Her character is inspired by First Lady Melania Trump (Kent Smith/Getty)

Of how she was able to find the sincerity within Margo, Akerman said: “She’s a survivor. Everything she’s doing, there’s a reality to it. For me, it was played more out of necessity: These are the things she needs to move up in her agenda for her life.

“That doesn’t mean she doesn’t get thrown off. Sophie, for instance — that’s a new shiny toy she hasn’t seen in a while, this really bright, emotionally intelligent woman who stands her ground and is not one of the wives.”

She added that she connected and empathized with Margo’s survival instinct. “I moved out when I was 16,” Akerman said. “Figuring out the world on my own, traveling a lot on my own as a 16-year-old girl, what you run into — grown men and women who try to take advantage — all of that played into who I became as a person and who Margo became as a person. We chose very different paths, but I can understand her from that place.”

Addressing Margo’s chameleon-like sensibilities, Akerman insisted: “But it’s all played as grounded as possible.

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“I always played the scenes with the intention of what she needs in that moment,” she continued. “She will say and do anything. If her husband said, ‘We have to go and do satanic rituals in order for you to stay where you need to be,’ she’ll go do that. It just happens to be church, and that’s what she needs to do in order to stay in the good graces of her territory. She learns how to play people, which is kind of politics, really.”

The Hunting Wives is out on Netflix now.