Aja Naomi King‘s newest show Grosse Pointe Garden Society feels like a nod at her How to Get Away With Murder days — but the murder mystery shows are quite different.
“That’s one of the reasons why I wanted to do Grosse Pointe Garden Society in the first place. There was an aspect of it that just felt like nostalgia,” King, 40, exclusively told Us Weekly about the NBC series. “It was giving off those How to Get Away With Murder and Desperate Housewives vibes. It’s just like a warm hug watching this show because of how familiar it is.”
Grosse Pointe Garden Society quickly stands on its own though. “The premise is so different from both of those shows. We start with four friends in a garden club and how they get entangled in a murder, which is not exactly how you want things to go,” King quipped. “But it’s set in the city of Grosse Pointe, which is a neighborhood in Detroit, Michigan, and is a very upper-class, affluent neighborhood.”
The new drama series, which premiered in February, features a murder, flash forwards and a friend group that has to keep a secret from the police. For fans of King’s filmography, Grosse Pointe Garden Society felt reminiscent of How to Get Away With Murder, which aired from 2014 to 2020, and follows a defense attorney who becomes involved in a complex murder plot alongside her five law students.
‘Grosse Pointe Garden Society’ Star-Studded Cast: Where You Know Them From
In addition to a different tone at the center of each show, King’s character Catherine on Grosse Pointe Garden Society is just as compelling as HTGAWM‘s Michaela but in a very different place in her life.
“Catherine is someone who is established as old money and has been there forever. She’s someone who’s the essence of Grosse Pointe and is just trying to maintain everything that her parents have established for her to have there,” King explained to Us. “Catherine is Vice President of the garden club, but when you’re watching the show, you might notice she’s doing more managing than gardening. She’s making sure everyone else is doing it correctly. She has a very powerful presence, which is what I love about her.”
The actress continued: “It’s very different from what I’ve done with other characters in that sense. Just energetically, it’s coming from a different place because she is so established in the community. It’s less about trying to prove something to someone and more about maintaining what has already been proven.”
King recalled feeling invigorated after being cast on Grosse Pointe Garden Society.
“The feel of the show, the excitement and the flash forwards. There are so many aspects of it that are really thrilling, sexy and have these kind of absurdist comedic moments, which I really love,” she continued. “But then it’ll also have these moments of really grounded and relational drama between characters that for me as an actor are a dream to dive into. There’s nothing like this show on TV right now, which I think is what makes it really exciting.”
‘Grosse Pointe Garden Society’ Mixes Murder, Mystery and Many Familiar Faces
There’s also the question of the body that is being buried. HTGAWM viewers knew by the end of the pilot that Annalise Keating’s (Viola Davis) husband Sam (Tom Verica) was the victim. Meanwhile, Grosse Pointe Garden Society fans have to wait a little longer to find out who was murdered — and by whom.
“With other shows, you find out who’s getting killed and the premise of the mystery becomes the why or the how. We’re giving audiences the fun of not knowing anything — just like these characters going into it — not knowing that this is where they’re going to end up,” King teased. “It’s exciting for all of us to be on that ride together. Because we didn’t know for the bulk of filming. It’s so satisfying. I’m really proud of what they’ve done there.”
Luckily, King has experience as an actress with the “not knowing.”
“That was exactly what it was for me on HTGAWM. But the way I attempt to approach [Catherine’s scenes in the future] is people are so complicated, and we never know how we’re going to react to things in the moment,” she shared. “It really is like any choice you go with, you can just commit to in that moment. I was just trusting the writing and trusting the guidance.”
2025 TV Wishlist: What Us Weekly Wants to See on ‘Bridgerton’ and More Shows
King noted that where we meet Catherine is not where she ends up six months later, saying, “That was the fun for me. Over the course of the season, we are seeing Catherine — who’s this type A perfectionist — trying to present this perfect life outwardly while inside she is in turmoil and doesn’t really know how to communicate her needs. She is feeling neglected in her marriage and feeling stifled by how she’s parenting and just trying to figure out who she wants to be in the world. Over the course of the season, we really see her kind of unraveling and getting to her truer self. It’s like night and day. She’s almost an entirely different person from where she started.”
Before joining Grosse Pointe Garden Society, King has had scene-stealing roles on Emily Owens, M.D., HTGAWM and Lessons in Chemistry. King’s past work might even get an Easter egg on Grosse Pointe Garden Society, with King teasing to Us, “There might be a thing or two in there that’s going to feel like a definite nod.”
Grosse Pointe Garden Society airs on NBC Sundays at 10 p.m. ET, and new episodes are available to stream on Peacock the next day.
