Jessica Jones Star Krysten Ritter Cast In David E. Kelley’s Love And Death On HBO Max

Krysten Ritter has joined the cast of Love and Death, a new HBO Max series from David E. Kelley, the creator of The Practice and Boston Legal. She will play Sherry Cleckler in the series, which is based on the true story of Texas housewife Candy Montgomery, who was murdered along with her friend Betty Gore with an axe in 1980. She joins a cast that already includes Elizabeth Olsen as Candy Montgomery, Jesse Plemons as Allan Gore, Patrick Fugit as Pat Montgomery, Lily Rabe as Betty Gore, Keir Gilchrist as Pastor Ron Adams, Elizabeth Marvel as Pastor Jackie Ponder, and Tom Pelphrey as Don Crowder.

The show is inspired by the book Evidence of Love: A True Story of Passion and Death in the Suburbs, and a collection of articles from Texas Monthly (“Love & Death In Silicon Prairie, Part I & II”). Variety broke the news of Ritter’s casting.

The official synopsis for the series offers little in the way of details, but seems like it will have something of an irreverent tone. It says that Love and Death follows “two churchgoing couples, enjoying small-town family life in Texas, until somebody picks up an axe.”

Ritter is currently appearing in Netflix’s new movie Nightbooks from director David Yarovesky, who previously worked on the “Guardians Inferno” music video in Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 2. She is best known for her work in Jessica Jones and Breaking Bad. 

Love and Death is written by Kelley, who will also executive produce. Nicole Kidman and Per Saari executive produce for Blossoms Films. Lesli Linka Glatter is directing and executive producing. Scott Brown and Megan Creydt of Texas Monthly also executive produce along with Matthew Tinker, Michael Klick, and Helen Verno. The series is a co-production between HBO Max and Lionsgate Television.