Wedding bells are ringing, and yet something feels deeply off. This is the premise of Netflix’s newest horror series, Something Very Bad Is Going To Happen, which follows bride-to-be Rachel (Camila Morrone) as she arrives at her fiancé Nicky’s (Adam DiMarco) family home just days before she’s set to say “I do.”
From creator Haley Z. Boston and executive producers the Duffer Brothers (of Stranger Things fame), the series sees Rachel’s life unravel as strange occurrences stack up. As her unease becomes impossible to ignore, it pulls Nicky and his unusual family into a deeply unsettling reckoning: what if the man she’s chosen to spend forever with isn’t actually her soulmate?
Leaning into slow-burn psychological dread over cheap thrills, Something Very Bad Is Going To Happen is the kind of horror story that crawls under your skin.
And another thing that crawled under viewers’ skin was the question: where do I recognise that actor from? Something Very Bad Is Going To Happen features a stars studded cast – and there’s a very good chance you’ll have seen them on your screen before…
Who is in the cast of Netflix’s Something Very Bad Is Going To Happen?
Camila Morrone as Rachel Harkin
Camila (Daisy Jones & The Six, The Night Manager) stars as our bride-to-be-Rachel, who finds herself wrapped up in a terrifying reality as she meets her fiancé’s family for the first time.
Camila said, ‘Rachel isn’t really the kind of woman who would necessarily want to get married. She loves Nicky and she knows how important it is to him and his family, but she’s the antithesis of traditional or by-the-book – quite an anarchist in a lot of ways.’
Adam DiMarco as Nicky Cunningham
Adam (The White Lotus, Overcompensating) appears as Nicky, Rachel’s kind, sensitive, and emotionally mature fiancé. Although he’s head over heels in love with his bride-to-be, he doesn’t quite pick up on the eerie energy that surrounds his family home.
Adam said of his character, ‘Rachel is very anxious and easily set on edge, and then I feel like Nicky is more of a calming, grounding presence for her. So they’re kind of one of those yin-and-yang couples. They balance each other out in a nice way.’
Jeff Wilbusch as Jules Cunningham
Jeff, best known for his roles in Netflix’s Unorthodox and political thriller Oslo, stars in the series as Jules. Nicky’s older brother, the series sees Nick grapple with a childhood trauma he thought he’d buried.
‘The eldest son is somewhat the outcast in the family. He is a successful doctor like his father, but he slipped into [becoming] the black sheep of the family,’ says Wilbusch. ‘He tries to do everything right, but he fucks up. He’s, not by choice, the carrier of secrets in the family.’
Karla Crome as Nell Cunningham
Karla (Misfits, Lazarus) plays Jules’s wife Nell, a grounding force in the oftentimes chaotic Cunningham family. PSA: she also used to date Nicky. Awkward.
‘At first, she might feel like somebody who is a little Machiavellian,’ Karla said of Nell, ‘but I think she eventually becomes an ally to Rachel. She’s well-intentioned. She’s intelligent. I think she’s curious but can be self-serving as well.’
Sawyer Fraser as Jude Cunningham
Jules’s son from a previous marriage, Jude (played by The Good Doctor’s Sawyer) finds himself grappling with the same trauma that once haunted his dad.
Jennifer Jason Leigh as Victoria Cunningham
Jennifer (The Hateful Eight, Fargo) joins the cast as Victoria, the intense matriarch of the Cunningham family. Dedicated to her husband and three children, she’s the glue that holds them all together – but a big secret threatens to tear them apart.
‘She’s very controlling, and at the same time, she’s very loving. Everything is on her terms and always on her terms, and you can feel it if you’ve disappointed her,’ Jennifer explained.
Ted Levine as Boris Cunningham
Our Cunningham family is headed up by Boris, played by Ted (Monk, Big Sky, The Silence of the Lambs), our tough-loving patriarch. While he runs a tight ship with his kids, he heralds his wife as the centre of his universe.
‘Boris is deeply in love with Victoria. That’s like the defining factor about Boris. He’s deeply in love with his wife and basically does anything for her,’ says Ted.
Gus Birney as Portia Cunningham
The youngest of our Cunningham siblings, Portia (played by Shining Vale’s Gus) has grand ideals. A hopeless romantic with a controlling streak, she’s intent on putting together the perfect wedding day for her family – and she isn’t afraid to clash with anyone who stands in the way.
Opening up about her character, Gus said, ‘She’s the baby, and I think people don’t take her that seriously.’
Zlatko Buric as The Witness
Zlatko (Triangle of Sadness, 2012) joins the cast as the Witness, a towering stranger who drifts from bars to chapels as he haunts the edges of Rachel and Nick’s story. It’s soon discovered that he knows much more than he initially lets on…
Victoria Pedretti as Alexandra Harkin
Victoria (Haunting of Hill House, You, Forbidden Fruits) appears as Rachel’s mother, Alexandra. Glimpsed only in fragments during home videos that have long survived her, her death hangs heavy over Rachel’s life.
Josh Hamilton and Logan Miller as Jay Harkin and Young Jay
Rachel was raised alone by her father, Jay, a reclusive man whose love for his daughter is entangled with paranoia and grief. Played in the present by Josh Hamilton (13 Reasons Why, The Walking Dead), he resurfaces in Rachel’s life and forces her to confront what he’s been hiding from her for years.
In VHS tape flashbacks, he’s played by Logan Miller (best known for appearing in Disney’s I’m In The Band, and the horror thriller Escape Room.)
This story first appeared on GRAZIA UK.
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