Netflix’s latest original series about a mild-mannered suburban couple with a secret starts streaming this week and it’s already getting serious praise. Santa Clarita Diet is a hilarious dark comedy, but who’s behind it? Who stars in it? What’s it about?
Before all 10 half-hour episodes of the series premiere on Netflix worldwide on Friday, February 3, here are eight things that you need to know about Santa Clarita Diet.
1. Santa Clarita Diet was created by Victor Fresco, who previously worked on quirky shows like ABC’s Better Off Ted and Fox’s Andy Richter Controls the Universe.
2. The show stars Drew Barrymore in her first-ever regular TV role. Barrymore plays California realtor Sheila Hammond, and she eats people. USA Today recently revealed that after Sheila’s death in the pilot episode, she and her husband have to work together to keep her new cravings for human flesh under control.
3. Timothy Olyphant (Justified, Deadwood) plays hubby, Joel Hammond. BTW… He’s also a real estate agent.
4. Yes, Barrymore’s character is a cannibal, but Santa Clarita Diet isn’t a horror, it’s a comedy. “The genius casting of Timothy and Drew, combined with Victor’s unique comic sensibility, packs a real punch,” Netflix Vice President of Original Content Cindy Holland said in a press release.
5. Barrymore was pretty into the blood and gore. “It had been a really long week,” says Executive producer Tracy Katsky. “Everyone on the crew was a little bit cranky. And we get to the scene where Sheila eats someone, which is the first time you see anything like that. And there was a shot of Drew Barrymore, America’s sweetheart, with her face buried in a pile of human wreckage, and she pulls up with blood all over her face and hair and hands and looks her husband in the face and says, ‘I really want to make this work.’ We all knew, in that moment, ‘We are doing something really different here.’”
6. We don’t know how many victims Sheila will ultimately have in Season 1, but the series’ prosthetic makeup effects designer, Christien Tinsley, teases a high body count: “We built eight of nine fake bodies, which is unheard of for a small show like this.”
7. Santa Clarita Diet also stars Australian actress Liv Hewson as the couple’s rebellious daughter, Abby. Skyler Gisondo (Vacation) stars as Eric, a young undead “expert” who lives door and has a crush on Abby; they both figure out Sheila’s undead secret.
8. The supporting cast includes Ricardo Chavira (Desperate Housewives), Mary Elizabeth Ellis and Richard T Jones, with Nathan Fillion (Castle) and comedian Andy Richter among its many recognizable guest stars.
