[SPOILER]’s Killer in The Residence Is Exactly Who You Won’t Expect—Here’s Why
Netflix‘s new murder mystery is unlike anything we’ve seen before—because it takes place in The White House. The Residence is Shondaland’s newest Whodunnit starring Uzo Aduba as the brilliant Detective Cordelia Cupp and her fellow detective Edwin Park (Randall Park). Everyone in the White House is dying to find out who murdered the chief usher AB Wynter (Giancarlo Esposito).
As the veteran operator who has worked in the White House for more than 20 years, Wynter has bound to make some enemies along the way. Among the suspects include: the butler Shiela Cannon (Edwina Findley), head butler Rollie Bridgewater (Al Mitchell) Chefs Didier Gotthard (Bronson Pinchot) and Marvella (Mary Wiseman), housekeeper Elsyie Chayle (Julieth Restrepo), engineer Bruce Geller (Mel Rodriguez), President Perry Morgan (Paul Fitzgerald), first gentleman Elliot Morgan (Barret Foa), his mother Nan Cox (Jane Curtin), Harry Hollinger (Ken Marino), Lilly Schumacher (Molly Griggs), energy healer St. Pierre (Taran Killam), and even Australian star Kylie Minogue.
Wynter’s body was found in the Game Room in an apparent suicide. His wrists were slit and there were traces of being hit by a large object and it was discovered that there was poison in his system. There was more than meets the eye with the abundance of clues left. So who was out to get him?
Who Killed AB Wynter in The Residence?
After a hard interrogation and explanation about the murder, Lilly tried to frame Elsyie and Bruce by explaining an elaborate story about how they wanted to get vengeance for working under him. When Park says the Blink, the two realize Lilly was the one who done it because she covered up the passageway to the Yellow Oval Room.
Why did Lilly kill AB Wynter?
Well, Cupp explained that Lilly hated everything in the White House (quite literally and figuratively), while on the other side, Mr. Wynter wanted to embrace everything that the White House stood for. Cupp also said that Lily feared him and had an argument with him on the night he died. He ripped out a page in the journal that was documenting her malice.
But when Lilly explained it, she acted like it was a public service because everyone hated him. She also explained that she was rich and won’t miss out on the job. Cupp then found out the codes in Wynter’s journal all the different ethical codes she’s violated and Wynter wanted to expose her. Mr Wynter knew that he would die by the end of the night and drank the poisoned drink because he gave Lilly the benefit of the doubt. The poison didn’t work as fast as she thought and she bludgeoned him with the clock.
Cupp iterated that Wynter really loved the staff and respected them as individuals and as a team. It was never “us versus them” for Wynter, but just an “Us.” However, Lily never understood that and she’s whisked away by Secret Service.
Did the creators know who was the killer from the beginning?
Creator Paul Davies explained that the twist was always expected when he was writing the series. “I did know [who the killer was] from the beginning — who it was, how it happened, all of it, and how it would all unfold, before I ever wrote the first episode,” Paul told Netflix. “I did leave myself room to still find different characters and voices, and there were definitely revelations to me along the way in the writing of it. I changed some things, but nothing super fundamental or structural because it was too precise. And for me, making it all make sense was really important.”
As to why the viewers were so unconvinced it was Lily since the start, the showrunners wanted to lean into the absurdity. “We played into how ridiculous she is — how foppish she can be and totally unaware of herself,” Griggs explains. “It throws the scent off her because she’s so silly and entitled and bratty. You don’t think she would be capable of something so calculated and elaborate, or that she would have that kind of follow-through.
