''The Afterparty'' is an American

murder mystery Crime fiction, detective story, murder mystery, mystery novel, and police novel are terms used to describe narratives that centre on criminal acts and especially on the investigation, either by an amateur or a professional detective, of a crime, ...

comedy Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...

television series created by Christopher Miller that premiered on

Apple TV+ Apple TV is a digital media player and microconsole developed and marketed by Apple Inc. It is a small network appliance hardware that plays received media data such as video and audio to a television set or external display. Since its secon ...

on January 28, 2022. In March 2022, the series was renewed for a second season which is set to premiere on April 28, 2023.

Premise

The series takes place at a high school reunion after party with each episode "a different character's perspective" of what happened that night. Critic Olivia Rutigliano noted that it is an example of "the millennial whodunnit," a new subgenre of murder mystery in which the investigation is a vehicle for characters to find second chances, personal fulfillment, and a departure from boring or oppressive daily life (through the feeling that their life has become a new genre).

Cast and characters

Main

Tiffany Haddish Tiffany Sara Cornilia Haddish (born December 3, 1979) is an American stand-up comedian and actress. After guest-starring on several television series and lead role on a cable drama, Haddish gained prominence for her role as Nekeisha Williams on ...

as Detective Danner, a detective investigating Xavier's murder * Sam Richardson as Aniq, an escape room designer and the primary suspect, who attempts to use his escape room skills to clear his name *

Zoë Chao Zoë Carroll Chao (born September 19, 1985) is an American television and stage actress and screenwriter, principally known for her role as Isobel in '' Strangers'', and Zoe in '' The Afterparty''. Early life Chao was born in Providence, Rhode ...

as Zoë, Aniq's high school crush and Brett's ex-wife *

Ike Barinholtz Isaac Barinholtz (born February 18, 1977) is an American actor, comedian, writer, director, and producer. He is best known for his starring roles in the comedy series ''MADtv'' (2002–2007), '' Eastbound & Down'' (2012), ''The Mindy Project'' (20 ...

as Brett (season 1), Zoe's ex-husband. It is later revealed he cheated on Zoë with Chelsea. * Ben Schwartz as Yasper (season 1), Aniq's best friend and Xavier's former ska bandmate, who hopes to start a career in music. *

Ilana Glazer Ilana Glazer (born April 12, 1987) is an American comedian, director, producer, writer, and actress. She co-created and co-starred, with Abbi Jacobson, in the Comedy Central series ''Broad City'', which is based on the web series of the same nam ...

as Chelsea (season 1), a receptionist at a veterinary clinic who blamed Xavier for an incident at a St. Patrick's Day party that resulted in her ostracization by the whole school. It is revealed that a past breakup resulted in her affair with Brett. *

Jamie Demetriou Jamie Demetriou (born November 1987) is an English comedian, actor and screenwriter. He is best known for his role as Bus Rodent in ''Fleabag'' and for creating, co-writing, and starring in ''Stath Lets Flats''. For the latter, he won Best Male A ...

as Walt (season 1), a partygoer whom no one seems to remember *

Dave Franco David John Franco (born June 12, 1985) is an American actor. He began his career with small roles in films such as ''Superbad'' (2007) and '' Charlie St. Cloud'' (2010). Following a starring role in the ninth season of the comedy series '' Scru ...

as Xavier (season 1), a pop star/actor, Yasper's former bandmate, and the murder victim, whose full name is Eugene Xavier Duckworth, Jr. *

Elizabeth Perkins Elizabeth Ann Perkins (born November 18, 1960) is an American actress. Her film roles have included ''About Last Night'' (1986), '' Big'' (1988), ''Avalon'' (1990), and '' He Said, She Said'' (1991), ''The Flintstones'' (1994), ''Miracle on 34th ...

as Isabel (season 2) *

Zach Woods Zachary Woods (born September 25, 1984) is an American actor, comedian, writer, director and producer. He is best known for his roles as a series regular for three seasons as Gabe Lewis on the NBC sitcom ''The Office'', as Jared Dunn on the HBO ...

as Edgar (season 2) *

Paul Walter Hauser Paul Walter Hauser (born October 15, 1986) is an American actor and comedian. He is known for his supporting roles in the films '' Cruella'', ''I, Tonya'', '' Late Night'', ''BlacKkKlansman'', and ''Da 5 Bloods''. In 2019, Hauser had his breakout ...

as Travis (season 2) * Poppy Liu as Grace (season 2) *

Anna Konkle Anna Konkle (born April 7, 1987) is an American actress, writer and director. She is known for co-creating and starring as Anna Kone on Hulu's original TV comedy series ''PEN15'', alongside Maya Erskine. Her work on the series earned her two Pr ...

as Hannah (season 2) *

Jack Whitehall Jack Peter Benedict Whitehall (born 7 July 1988) is an English comedian, actor, presenter and writer. He is known for starring as JP in the series ''Fresh Meat (TV series), Fresh Meat'' (2011–2016) and Alfie Wickers in the series ''Bad Educat ...

as Sebastian (season 2) *

Vivian Wu Vivian Wu ( Wu Junmei; ; born February 5, 1967) is a Chinese-American actress.Chen Nan ''China Daily'', 27 April 2007. Her big break came in 1987, appearing in the biographical film '' The Last Emperor''. She later went to starring in films '' ...

as Vivian (season 2) *

Ken Jeong Kendrick Kang-Joh Jeong (, ; born July 13, 1969) is an American actor, stand-up comedian, producer, writer and licensed physician. He rose to prominence for playing Leslie Chow in ''The Hangover'' film series (2009–2013) and Ben Chang in the ...

as Feng (season 2) *

John Cho John Cho (born Cho Yo-Han; June 16, 1972) is an American actor known for his roles as Harold Lee in the '' Harold & Kumar'' films, and Hikaru Sulu in the ''Star Trek'' rebooted film series. Early in his career, Cho also starred in the Asian A ...

as Ulysses (season 2)

Recurring

* John Early as Detective Culp, Danner's partner *

Tiya Sircar Tiya Sircar (born May 16, 1982) is an American actress best known for her role as "Real Eleanor"/Vicky in '' The Good Place'' (2016–2020). She also provided the voice for Sabine Wren in Disney XD's '' Star Wars Rebels'' (2014–2018), played Ro ...

as Jennifer #1, a pregnant

mean girl Meanness is a personal quality whose classical form, discussed by many from Aristotle to Thomas Aquinas, characterizes it as a vice of "lowness", but whose modern form deals more with cruelty. Classical formulation In his dictionary, Noah We ...

* Ayden Mayeri as Jennifer #2, another pregnant mean girl who goes missing upon Danner's arrival *

Genevieve Angelson Genevieve Rose Angelson is an American actress, best-known for playing Indigo on '' The Afterparty'', Patti Robinson on ''Good Girls Revolt'', and Ruth on '' Flack''. Early life and education Angelson was born in New York City to lawyer and busin ...

as Indigo *

Kelvin Yu Kelvin Yu (born 1979) is an American actor and writer. Early life and education Yu was born to Yu Ming-chuan and Lin Ling-juan. He grew up in Los Angeles, where he currently resides. He is a graduate of the University of California, Los Angeles ...

as Ned, Jennifer #1's husband * Everly Carganilla as Maggie, Zoë and Brett's daughter * Will Greenberg as Judson (season 2) *

John Gemberling John Gemberling (born February 1, 1981) is an American actor and comedian best known for roles as Bevers on the Comedy Central series ''Broad City'', as Gil on the NBC sitcom '' Marry Me'', and as John Hancock on the Fox sitcom '' Making History'' ...

as Jaxon (season 2) In addition, Christopher May and

Miracle Laurie Miracle Laurie (born August 1, 1981) is an American actress, best known for portraying Mellie on the Joss Whedon drama ''Dollhouse''. Career Laurie started towards a professional acting career at Orange Coast College, where she was part of the ...

co-star as Mr. Shapiro and Quiet Heather, respectively, a science teacher and former student who, as a running gag, are caught having intimate relations in each of the stories.

Special guest stars

Channing Tatum Channing Matthew Tatum (born April 26, 1980) is an American actor. Tatum made his film debut in the drama ''Coach Carter'' (2005), and had his breakthrough role in the 2006 dance film ''Step Up (film), Step Up''. He gained wider attention for ...

as himself, who co-starred with Xavier in the

Hall & Oates Daryl Hall and John Oates, commonly known as Hall & Oates, are an American pop rock duo formed in Philadelphia in 1970. Daryl Hall is generally the lead vocalist; John Oates primarily plays electric guitar and provides backing vocals. The two ...

biopic. *

Will Forte Orville Willis Forte IV ( ; born June 17, 1970) is an American actor, comedian, writer, and producer. Forte is known for being a cast member on ''Saturday Night Live'' (2002–2010), a recurring character on the show leading to a feature film ada ...

as himself, who co-starred with Xavier in a dramatic film adaptation of the board game

Hungry Hungry Hippos Hungry Hungry Hippos (or Hungry Hippos in some UK editions) is a tabletop game made for 2–4 players, produced by Hasbro, under the brand of its subsidiary, Milton Bradley. The idea for the game was published in 1967 by toy inventor Fred Krol ...

and was due to reprise his role in the sequel before Xavier's death.

Episodes

Production

Development

Miller conceived of ''The Afterparty'' in the early 2010's, where he wanted to make a murder mystery showing the different perspectives of the murder from its witnesses, inspired by his love of the murder-mystery genre and Akira Kurosawa's ''

Rashomon is a 1950 Jidaigeki psychological thriller/crime film directed and written by Akira Kurosawa, working in close collaboration with cinematographer Kazuo Miyagawa. Starring Toshiro Mifune, Machiko Kyō, Masayuki Mori (actor), Masayuki Mori, and ...

''. The high school reunion aspect was added after Miller attended a high school reunion himself, thinking it would be a unique setting for such a concept. Miller initially wrote it as a feature-length screenplay on his own while he was making ''

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs ''Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs'' is a children's book written by Judi Barrett and illustrated by Ron Barrett. It was first published in 1978 by Atheneum Books, followed by a 1982 trade paperback edition from sister company Aladdin Paperb ...

'' and ''

21 Jump Street ''21 Jump Street'' is an American police procedural television series that aired on the Fox network and in first run syndication from April 12, 1987, to April 27, 1991, with a total of 103 episodes. The series focuses on a squad of youthful-loo ...

'' with Lord. ''The Afterparty'' was set-up at

Sony Pictures Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Sony Pictures or SPE, and formerly known as Columbia Pictures Entertainment, Inc.) is an American diversified multinational mass media and entertainment studio Conglomerate (company), conglom ...

as a film, with Miller as sole writer and director, while producing the film along with Lord, Jonathan Kadin, and Hannah Minghella. However, the film never came to fruition due to commitments with ''

The Lego Movie ''The Lego Movie'' is a 2014 computer-animated adventure comedy film written and directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller from a story by Lord, Miller, and Dan and Kevin Hageman. Based on the Lego line of construction toys, its story focu ...

'' and '' 22 Jump Street''. Lord and Miller were still optimistic in making ''The Reunion'' while promoting ''

'', so when Miller considered making ''The Afterparty'', he made the decision to make it as a mini-series. Miller felt that expanding the concept into a series would allow him to properly develop the characters. Doing so also gave Miller the idea to present each version of the event as a separate genre in line with the respective POV's of each witness. On June 24, 2020, it was announced that

had given the production an eight-episode straight-to-series order, now titled ''The Afterparty''. The series is created by Miller who is also the showrunner and is expected to executive produce alongside Lord while Aubrey Lee is a producer. Production companies involved with the series were slated to consist of

Sony Pictures Television Sony Pictures Television Inc. (abbreviated as SPT) is an American television production and distribution studio. Based at the Sony Pictures Studios complex in Culver City, it is a division of Sony Entertainment's unit Sony Pictures Entertainm ...

and

TriStar Television TriStar Television, Inc. (first spelled Tri-Star, and abbreviated as TT) is an American television production studio that is a division of Sony Entertainment's Sony Pictures Television. TriStar Television was launched in March 1986 by TriStar Pi ...

. On March 2, 2022, Apple TV+ renewed the series for a second season. On April 27, 2022, it was revealed that the second season would consist of ten episodes, two more than the first, and will revolve around a murder mystery at a wedding. It was also revealed Anthony King would be serving as co-showrunner along with Miller.

Casting

In November 2020, the cast was announced, including

, Sam Richardson, Ben Schwartz,

and

. After the first season finale aired, Schwartz revealed that he was told he would be the murderer upon being cast, and that he kept it secret from the rest of the cast until the table read for the episode. Upon the second season renewal announcement, it was reported that Haddish is set to reprise her role as Detective Danner, but a new cast of suspects for the second season. In April 2022, it was announced that Richardson and Chao are set to reprise their roles for the second season, with

, Poppy Liu,

and

joining the starring cast as, respectively, Isabel, Edgar, Travis, Grace, Hannah, Sebastian, and Vivian. In May 2022, it was reported that

and

were cast as series regulars for the second season. On June 13, 2022, Will Greenberg and

joined the cast in recurring roles for the second season.

Filming

On November 11, 2020, Miller, in an Instagram post, confirmed that filming for the series had officially begun. Miller directed all eight episodes in the series, making it the first time he has directed separately after his collaborations with Lord. In another Instagram post, on February 17, 2021, Miller revealed that filming was finished for the first season. The sixth episode features animation done by

ShadowMachine ShadowMachine is an American animation studio and production company for film, television, commercials and music videos. Since its early days producing the stop-motion animation show ''Robot Chicken'', the company has been producing such shows ...

, the animation studio behind ''

BoJack Horseman ''BoJack Horseman'' is an American adult animation, adult animated Black comedy, black Comedy drama, comedy-drama streaming television series created by Raphael Bob-Waksberg. It stars the voices of Will Arnett, Amy Sedaris, Alison Brie, Paul F ...

'' and the upcoming revival of Lord and Miller's ''

Clone High ''Clone High'' (occasionally referred to in the United States as ''Clone High USA'') is an adult animated science fiction sitcom created by Phil Lord, Christopher Miller and Bill Lawrence. The show centers on a high school populated by the clo ...

''. The animation was designed by Lindsey Olivares, who previously worked with Lord and Miller on the aesthetic design for ''

The Mitchells vs. the Machines ''The Mitchells vs. the Machines'' is a 2021 Computer animation, computer-animated science fiction comedy, science fiction comedy film produced by Sony Pictures Animation. The film was directed by Mike Rianda (in his feature directorial debut) an ...

''. The animation was done at the same time as the live-action. Filming for the second season began on May 11, 2022 with Miller again returning as director. In an Instagram post, on September 1, 2022,

confirmed that filming for the second season had wrapped.

Music

The score for ''The Afterparty'' was composed by

Daniel Pemberton Daniel Pemberton (born 3 November 1977) is an Academy Award-nominated and Emmy-winning English composer and songwriter. Life and career In 1994, at the age of 16, Pemberton recorded his debut album, ''Bedroom'', on a multitrack cassette recor ...

, who previously worked with Lord and Miller on '' Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse''. In an interview with ''Variety,'' Pemberton explained the challenge of having to compose in different styles for each of the characters. He states, " It's like I'm scoring 10 films, plus a series, plus loads of incidental stuff, plus producing some songs. There was a lot on my shoulders with this project." Pemberton started work on the project by composing the main theme and the frame story outside of the flashbacks, then the music for the flashbacks. His influences on each include those of

Richard Curtis Richard Whalley Anthony Curtis (born 8 November 1956) is a New Zealand-born British screenwriter, producer and film director. One of Britain's most successful comedy screenwriters, he is known primarily for romantic comedy films, among them '' ...

films like ''

Notting Hill Notting Hill is a district of West London, England, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Notting Hill is known for being a cosmopolitan and multicultural neighbourhood, hosting the annual Notting Hill Carnival and Portobello Road M ...

'' for Aniq's rom-com flashback, the music of

Howard Shore Howard Leslie Shore (born October 18, 1946) is a Canadian composer and conductor noted for his film scores. He has composed the scores for over 80 films, most notably the scores for ''The Lord of the Rings'' and ''The Hobbit'' film trilogies. ...

and

Bernard Herrmann Bernard Herrmann (born Maximillian Herman; June 29, 1911December 24, 1975) was an American composer and conductor best known for his work in composing for films. As a conductor, he championed the music of lesser-known composers. He is widely re ...

for Chelsea's psychological thriller, and the

Tyler Bates Tyler Bates (born June 5, 1965) is an American musician, producer, and composer for film, television, and video game scores. Much of his work is in the action and horror film genres, with films like '' Dawn of the Dead, 300, Sucker Punch, Ha ...

' drum and guitar-heavy score of ''

John Wick ''John Wick'' is an American action thriller media franchise created by Derek Kolstad and centering around John Wick, a former hitman who is forced back into the criminal underworld he had abandoned. The franchise began with the release of ''J ...

'' for Brett's action-movie story. The third episode is also a musical, containing three songs written by Jack Dolgen from ''

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend ''Crazy Ex-Girlfriend'' is an American romantic musical comedy-drama television series that premiered on October 12, 2015, on The CW and ran for four seasons, ending on April 5, 2019. The series was created, written, and directed by Rachel Bloo ...

'' and musical comedian

Jon Lajoie Jonathan Lajoie ( ; born August 21, 1980) is a Canadian comedian, actor, rapper, singer, songwriter, director, record producer, musician and Internet celebrity from Montreal, Quebec. He gained fame mostly from his eponymous YouTube channel, pos ...

, who worked with Lord and Miller on writing the songs for '' The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part''. A soundtrack album with the score and songs was released alongside the first three episodes on January 28, 2022. Another

extended play An extended play record, usually referred to as an EP, is a musical recording that contains more tracks than a single but fewer than an album or LP record.

album was released on February 1, 2022 featuring four songs performed by Franco in character as "Xavier" called ''R.I.P. Xavier''.

Soundtrack

''R.I.P. Xavier'' EP

Release

''The Afterparty'' premiered on January 28, 2022. The second season is scheduled to premiere on April 28, 2023, with the first two episodes available immediately and one new episode debuting on a weekly basis until the season finale on June 23, 2023.

Reception

Critical response

The

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

reported an 89% approval rating with an average rating of 7.6/10, based on 62 critic reviews. The website's critics consensus reads, "''The Afterparty'' sometimes strains to keep the jamboree of yuks going, but its ambitious melding of genres and extensive guest list of actors make for a worthwhile nightcap."

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 72 out of 100 based on 26 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

Accolades

At the 2022 Hollywood Critics Association TV Awards, the series was nominated for Best Streaming Series, Comedy, Sam Richardson was nominated for Best Actor in a Streaming Series, Comedy,

was nominated for Best Actress in a Streaming Series, Comedy, Ben Schwartz was nominated for Best Supporting Actor in a Streaming Series, Comedy, Christopher Miller was nominated for Best Directing in a Streaming Series, Comedy for the episode "Yasper", and Miller was also nominated for Best Writing in a Streaming Series, Comedy for the episode "Maggie".

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Afterparty (TV series), The 2020s American comedy television series 2020s American mystery television series 2022 American television series debuts Apple TV+ original programming English-language television shows Murder in television Television series by Sony Pictures Television Television series created by Christopher Miller (filmmaker) Television shows set in California Television series set in 2021