The showrunner of The Beast in Me, Howard Gordon, discusses the violent murder scene.

Howard Gordon, the showrunner of The Beast in Me, a Netflix limited series that has sparked debate among viewers, discusses the violent murder scene and how he kept it in the gray zone to keep the audience guessing.

The Divisive Murder Scene

The scene in question is the flashback scene in which Nile Jarvis’ (Matthew Rhys) wife, Madison (Leila George), is violently killed. The moment answers the question the entire show sets up, and the question Claire Danes’ character, Aggie, who is grappling with the death of her son, tries to answer while writing a book about her mysterious neighbor: Did he or didn’t he kill his wife?

Gordon breaks down with THR why The Beast in Me was a hard premise to tackle and why Rhys was the right guy to play Nile.

‘The Beast in Me’ was a challenging premise to get moving, according to Gordon. He attributes it to the complexity of the character and the story’s central question: Did Nile kill his wife?

The showrunner explains that the pilot episode and Gabe Rotter’s creation relied heavily on Aggie’s existential crisis following her son's death. However, when she suspects someone in her neighborhood of being a killer, writing a book about them became a static idea.

‘We had to find the dramatics of what happens,’ Gordon says. ‘What does that cat-and-mouse actually look like?’ To achieve this, the show introduced Nile as a real estate developer with a hand in a controversial project, Jarvis Yards. This added complexity to the story and allowed for exploration of Aggie’s relationship with her son.

The showrunner emphasizes the importance of keeping the audience guessing about whether Nile is the killer or not. ‘We planted certain flags at various points,’ Gordon says. ‘If he wasn’t, where would the story go?’

In an interview with THR, Howard Gordon discusses the making of The Beast in Me and why Matthew Rhys was the perfect choice to play Nile Jarvis.