Hulu brought a new kind of murder mystery to the 2024 TV schedule with Death and Other Details, headlined by The Princess Bride and Homeland alum Mandy Patinkin himself. Unfortunately, the show is the latest victim of the streamer's cancellation spree, so fans with Hulu subscriptions won't get to see what showrunners/executive producers Heidi Cole McAdams and Mike Weiss had in mind for Rufus and Co. in Season 2. The cancellation news is particularly sad in light of what the showrunners as well as cast told CinemaBlend about working with Patinkin as a showbiz "legend."
Mandy Patinkin played Rufus Cotesworth, the world's greatest detective who partnered with a reluctant Imogene Scott (Violett Beane) following murder most foul on an ocean liner. Over ten episodes, there were plenty of twists and turns, to the point that the first (and now only) season is worth a rewatch. Beane, who also opened up about quitting her restaurant job to join The Flash, was among the cast members who I spoke to at SCAD TVfest in Atlanta earlier this year prior to the cancellation.
When I asked Beane what it was like to partner with Patinkin considering his long list of credits in the entertainment industry, she said;
I mean, that's the thing, right? Like, the guy's a legend. He's been around for so long and he never misses. He's an incredible actor, and so it was very, very cool to see how he sort of built his character out and how he stuck with it throughout the season and seeing how our dynamic changed over the time. I mean, Imogene despises him at the beginning of the season, and then they basically partner up. So it's been a really fun journey.
Naturally, I had to follow up Beane's praise of how her co-star "has been around for so long" and "never misses" with the question of whether there was a project of his that she was most familiar with before Death and Other Details. She shared:
Oh, I've seen Princess Bride like seventeen times. Absolutely. It's an incredible film.
Violett Beane counts herself as among the many fans of The Princess Bride, and the swordsman Inigo Montoya is certainly a pop culture icon with his famous phrase.
Of course, Death and Other Details' Rufus definitely isn't Inigo Montoya, to the point that I asked the showrunners at SCAD TVfest if the Hulu role was written for Mandy Patinkin. After the duo shared their hopes and plans for Season 2, Heidi Cole McAdams explained:
It wasn't written for him, but the second we started talking about casting, his name came up. Everyone – me, Mike, and Marc Webb, who directed the pilot – would all say 'Yes!'... We sent him the script, and he liked it, and his family read the script. He and his family read the script together and they liked how joyful it was. Somehow it was all about fun, and he was like, 'That sounds like a thing that I'd like to come out of COVID to [work on].’
You might not guess that a show by the name of Death and Other Details could be described as "joyful," but checking out the show on Hulu could have shown you what Mandy Patinkin evidently saw from the start. Co-showrunner Mike Weiss elaborated and shared his own praise:
He's someone who's been doing it for so long. He's played so many different characters, and the fact that he had never been asked to do the world's greatest detective was like an oversight, we feel like. And hopefully we fixed that for the audience… He is so good that it does feel sometimes like the role was written for him because he just disappears into it.
When asked if they were inspired by any of his projects in particular, the showrunners agreed that his roles on The Princess Bride and Homeland were some of their favorites. Weiss also acknowledged Patinkin's experience in musical theater, and said:
The fact that he can sing, have a sword fight with his left hand, the whole thing. Amazing.
Angela Zhou, who played SS Varuna crew manager Teddy Goh for Death and Other Details, was also present on the red carpet at SCAD TVfest. While her character didn't share the same kind of scenes with Rufus as Imogene did, Zhou immediately said "Oh my goodness, it's so wonderful to work with him" when I asked about Patinkin, then went on:
He is just as a loving soul as you would imagine in person. And he's just not only passionate about work, but he's just somebody who just loves life. And as he said, he loves when people fall in love, and he loves when people have babies, and he just loves the ups and downs of life. Actually, he is particularly dear to my heart, because when I was doing my first musical production in high school, during a technical rehearsal was when I first watched Princess Bride. So I remember doing the long technical rehearsals watching him on screen as a teenager, and being so absorbed in his acting that we would miss our cues to show up on stage and we would get yelled at by the drama teacher.
Plenty of people love The Princess Bride, but not many have this kind of origin story for watching one of the best romantic comedies of all time! Angela Zhou went on:
If you had told that 14-year-old girl that she'd be working with Mandy Patinkin, I think she'd think you were absolutely insane. But that's the beauty of life and you never know what great surprises are ahead of you.
I also spoke with Lauren Patten, who played Imogene's wealthy best friend Anna Collier for Death and Other Details. Like the other representatives for the show, she only had high praise for Mandy Patinkin, but not because she had a connection to The Princess Bride or Homeland. Patten explained:
When I got cast for the pilot, I found out that he was also in the pilot, which was super exciting. So I got very stoked about that, and I'm from New York. That's where I live, and I'm a theater person. So Mandy is a very big deal if you're a theater person at all.
Mandy Patinkin's credits span stage and screen over the many years of his career; for Lauren Patten, his musical theater roles stand out in particular. She confirmed that's how she was most familiar with him before Death and Other Details and went on:
It's funny to see what people's ins are with Mandy. For so many people, it's Princess Bride, which I love. But for me, I think about Evita and Sunny in the Park with George. That's what I think of him first for, because I come from theater. So that's 100% what I see whenever I see him… He does not do the same thing over and over again. It's pretty great. He's really created an epic character for this show.
Sadly, neither Mandy Patinkin nor any of his co-stars will return to Hulu for a second season of Death and Other Details. Cancellations aren't exactly uncommon when it comes to streaming services, which can be discouraging for potential viewers to check out a new series. For now, you can always revisit the ten-episode run of Death and Other Details with a Hulu subscription now.
