Who murdered Paul Rudd’s Ben Glenroy? That’s the question at the center of Only Murders in the Building season three. The answer is a closely-guarded secret, withheld even from the people in charge of casting said killer—for a while, anyway. As in seasons past, casting directors Tiffany Little Canfield and Destiny Lilly were tasked with assembling the Arconia around stars Steve Martin, Martin Short, and Selena Gomez before they’d seen all of this round’s scripts.
So, how does one arrange the pieces of a puzzle before they’ve seen the full picture? “I’ll be honest, I think it’s really important for a casting director to know how many episodes a guest is going to recur in,” Canfield tells Vanity Fair. “Not only for the business side—you certainly don’t want to lose an actor because of availability—but also [because] when we know that a character is going to have time to unfold, you might want to do something slightly different with the casting.”
Canfield and Lilly, who are Emmy-nominated for their work on the show’s second season, are sworn to secrecy about which actor is playing this season’s killer. But some clues can be gleaned from their casting approach. Those cast in early roles include Noma Dumezweni (a supporting presence in whodunnits like The Undoing and The Watcher) as Maxine, a theater critic reviewing Oliver’s play, and Adrian Martinez (known for comedic roles in American Hustle and Renfield) as Gregg, an obsessed fan of Ben Glenroy who poses as a security guard. Both are performers who can make an immediate impact, says Canfield, which may be needed if, say, their characters won’t be factoring much into future episodes.
Juxtapose those characters with the role of Dickie, Ben’s brother and right hand, who currently lingers in the periphery of ensemble scenes. “It is such a mysterious part,” says Canfield. “The other characters get such an intro. It’s like, ‘I’m the Broadway producer. I’m this character.’” Dickie is different. “We see how he’s put-upon, but we don’t really see much more than that. Luckily, Jeremy Shamos—a Tony-nominated actor from Birdman and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom—“came in and claimed that role, as he often does, because he’s absolutely brilliant.”
With two critically acclaimed seasons under their belt, Canfield and Lilly had no shortage of actors clamoring to be a part of the show’s current round. “People move mountains to become available,” Canfield tells me. “Everyone wants to play.” Recurring guest stars like Jane Lynch and Da’Vine Joy Randolph have full dance cards, but still managed to pop by for appearances.
This year, the show has also welcomed two bona fide movie stars. The first is Rudd, who made his first surprise appearance in the show’s second season finale as an actor who collapses to his (presumed) death while performing in Oliver’s stage play. But that’s not the last we see of Rudd: when he took the cameo part, he also signed on for several episodes of a then unwritten third season. “For an actor of his level to agree to be in an episode of television and commit to the following season is such an unusual ask,” says Canfield. “In fact, it’s such an ask that we thought this might be impossible.”
Only Murders might be the only show that could have made it happen. “Steve, Marty, and Selena have created such a family, that once someone gets a taste, they want to come back,” she continues. “Paul really leaned in and was such an incredible, incredible partner in making this happen. I’m getting a little emotional, because Destiny and I got to speak to him at the wrap party. His authentic enthusiasm and excitement about working with Steve and Marty and Selena, it was palpable.”
Then there’s the matter of Meryl Streep. Her character, Loretta, is cheekily introduced as a “vanilla, but capable” actor. In real life, the Oscar winner has a close relationship with her It’s Complicated costar Steve Martin and an existing fandom for Only Murders. With the stars aligned, Streep signed on. “The way she commits is as if she’s Loretta and not Meryl Streep,” Canfield says, before words fail. “She is so…I don’t know, phenomenal in her work ethic, in her commitment, in her storytelling, in every aspect of what an actor does. She’s the pinnacle.”
Joining Streep in Oliver’s ill-fated production of Death Rattle are a collection of stage stalwarts, from Ashley Park as leading lady Kimber to Linda Emond as Broadway producer Donna DeMeo. “We’ve cast a lot of theater. So in many ways, we’ve been preparing for this moment our whole lives,” Lilly says. Kimber’s costars Ty and Bobo are played by Gerald Caesar, previously cast by Canfield in Dear Evan Hansen, and Don Darryl Rivera, first spotted by Lilly in Broadway’s Aladdin. Wesley Taylor plays Clifford, Donna’s son with an Oedipus complex and a dream. Lilly and Canfield have cast him in both stage musicals—The Addams Family, Rock of Ages—and shows about stage musicals, such as Smash. “They’re not new faces to us at all. In fact, they come right to our mind,” says Lilly. But for those without Broadway at their disposal, she explains, many of these actors look like fresh faces.