Brandon Sanderson is the most prolific fantasy authors working today; his book series Mistborn and The Stormlight Archive are about to be adapted for the screen, and the biggest question is why it took this long.
Sanderson is also an author who’s very open with his opinions about books, movies, and TV; he’s quick to share what he loves, and also what he doesn’t. In a snippet from a recent episode of his podcast Intentionally Blank, he weighed in on his favorite shows from 2025. “K-Pop Demon Hunters is my top film of the year, and Arcane and Residence are, like, tied at nines for me, for top show I watched,” he said.
Arcane is a high fantasy/sci-fi show that seems right up Sanderson’s alley, but hearing him praise The Residence was more unexpected.
What is The Residence?
And why should you watch it?
The Residence is a 2025 Netflix show based on the book of the same name by Kate Andersen Brower…kind of. Brower’s book is a look into the behind-the-scenes functioning of the White House, focusing on the professionals who keep the place running for the First Family. The Netflix show The Residence is set at the White House during a state dinner meant to improve relations with Australia, but it quickly turns into a murder mystery once chief usher A. B. Wynter (Giancarlo Esposito) turns up dead.
Cordelia Cupp (Uzo Aduba), known as the greatest detective in the world, is called in to investigate, and we’re introduced to a rogue’s gallery of suspects. Is it the presidents screw-up younger brother Tripp (Jason Lee)? Could it be White House butler Sheila Cannon (Edwina Findley), who left a telltale cigarette butt near the garden shed from which a fateful call to Wynter was made? Was it Didier the pastry chef (Bronson Pinchot), who resented Wynter for hiding his masterful gingerbread recreation of the White House somewhere out of the way?
This kind of setup will be familiar to anyone who’s read an Agatha Christie book or a Sherlock Holmes mystery, with the White House setting being a fun twist. The key is making it entertaining, which is no problem for The Residence.
Knives In
The Residence focuses on the funny
Although murder is a serious subject, The Residence is here to show audiences a good time. The series is oozing with quirky charm, although never so much that it becomes grating. For instance, in addition to being the world’s greatest detective, Cordelia Cupp is an avid bird-watcher, and sometimes can’t help herself from trying to find some of the rare birds fellow birder Teddy Roosevelt once claimed to see on the White House lawn. Her little binoculars come in handy when she notices that the Australian foreign minister (Brett Tucker) appears to have switched shirts with the murder victim, which sends the show down a new investigative rabbit role. The Residence knows how to use red herrings to keep us guessing while it builds the characters and lets the story reach a conclusion in its own time.
It’s hard not to watch The Residence without thinking about a different Netflix detective series: the Knives Out movies. Like those films, The Residence blends the quirky and the macabre in a way that gives audiences a thrill without upsetting them. Even the name “Cordelia Cupp” has a whimsy that recalls “Benoit Blanc.” Also like Knives Out, The Residence is happy to trot out celebrity guests; in this case we have Al Franken as a senator, OG Saturday Night Live alum Jane Curtain as the president’s eccentric mother-in-law, and Kylie Minogue as herself; she agreed to perform at this state dinner in exchange for a night in the Lincoln Bedroom. There’s also a running gag that Hugh Jackman is in attendance too, but the camera always shoots him from the back so we can’t see his face.
One thing The Residence does that Knives Out doesn’t is play extensively with time. We switch between the events of state dinner in question, a hearing that happens months later, and the final denouncement. There are a lot of timelines and characters, but The Residence never loses track, and we understand everything we need to at the end of the show’s eight episodes.
The Cancelation
Not even Brandon Sanderson’s endorsement could save them
Unfortunately, despite how much The Residence has to recommend it, Netflix canceled the show a few months after the first season dropped. Netflix is known for bringing down the axe at a moment’s notice, but it’s a shame that no one at the company had more faith that this charming series would find an audience over time. After all, they already had Brandon Sanderson in their corner. Who knows how many other famous fantasy authors would have chimed in over time? A Song of Ice and Fire author George R.R. Martin is known to be a big fan of Vikings, another show available on Netflix. Should have given him a call.
But seriously, guys
10 modern TV shows you can watch in any order you want without getting lost
Whether you want to laugh, cry, or get scared out of your mind, these shows will get it done, and it doesn’t matter if you start from the beginning.
Maybe there was only room for one tightly written comedy detective series at Netflix. That said, there are several more serious detective series on the streaming service, from excellent originals to licensed modern classics to international smashes. None of them offer quite what The Residence did, but they’re far better than nothing.
- Release Date
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2025 – 2025-00-00
- Network
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Netflix
- Directors
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Liza Johnson
- Writers
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Paul William Davies
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Giancarlo Esposito
Sheila Cannon
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Susan Kelechi Watson
Cordelia
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Jason Lee
Rollie Bridgewater
