The Hunting Wives ended on a wild cliffhanger. This is why it had to.

The Hunting Wives is quickly becoming one of the most talked-about TV shows of 2025.

The sexy thriller series, currently streaming on Stan in Australia, is set in the fictional town of Maple Brook, East Texas. The series is based the book The Hunting Wives by May Cobb.

The story follows Sophie O'Neil (played by Brittany Snow), a Boston mother who becomes entangled with a group of affluent, secretive socialite wives (aka 'the hunting wives'), led by the magnetic and mysterious Margo (Malin Akerman).

Sophie is drawn into their world of hunting, affairs and late-night bar nights, but soon finds herself at the centre of a murder investigation when a local teenage girl, Abby, is found dead.

Sophie's gun is implicated in the crime, making her the primary suspect. Oh no!

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As Sophie digs deeper and her relationship with Margo becomes sexual, she uncovers secrets and lies within the tightly-knit circle of wives.

The main cast includes: Jaime Ray Newman as Callie, Katie Lowes as Jill, Evan Jonigkeit as Sophie's husband Graham and Dermot Mulroney as Margo's hubby, Jed.

The series ended in one hell of a cliffhanger, which begs the question: is there more of this story to be told?

How did The Hunting Wives end?

The Hunting Wives ends with the revelation that Margo killed Abby to cover up her affair with Abby's teenage boyfriend Brad and her abortion.

Sophie uncovers the truth after finding tampons in Margo's bathroom, connecting this detail to Margo's earlier claim about not being able to use tampons, which Sophie learns can happen after an abortion.

Margo confesses after Sophie confronts her, finding out that Abby discovered the affair, leading to Margo impulsively shooting her with Sophie's gun.

Image: Stan.

The show includes multiple murders in its finale: Jill is killed by Callie after a confrontation with Abby's mother, Pastor Pete dies by suicide after being implicated in kidnappings, and Sophie herself kills Margo's brother Kyle in self-defence, disposing of his body in a lake in the show's final seconds.

The ending of the series is much more open-ended than the book, suggesting that the creators hoped that the door would stay open for future seasons.

Does the series end differently from the book?

Yes! Like, hugely different… in every possible way.

The book The Hunting Wives by May Cobb ends with Jill unmasked as the killer of both Abby and Margo (yes, she dies?!).

Jill murders Abby after discovering that Abby was pregnant by Brad (Jill's son) and refused to have an abortion, fearing Abby would hold Brad back. Jill then kills Margo because Margo had an affair with Brad.

Image: Stan.

In the book, Margo turns up drowned.

The novel closes with Sophie calling off her marriage to Graham and going to therapy. Unlike the series, she does not commit additional crimes nor reunite with her husband.

The book's author, Cobb, approved of keeping Margo alive in the series.

"My best friend was mad at me when I killed Margo in the book, and she's still mad at me about it," she told Variety.

"I get it. I needed another twist in the book, and that's the one I came up with."

Is The Hunting Wives coming back for Season 2?

Nothing has been announced…. yet. However, all the signs look positive as the thriller has been a breakout success.

And equally encouragingly, the creators and cast are all on board for a potential second season.

Akerman told PEOPLE that she "definitely" wants to return for Season 2.

"Not only to see it all play out, but when you get to go back to a show over and over again, it's like going to summer camp and seeing the people that you love the most," she said.

"That's what this show feels like. I loved everyone on the cast and crew."

Image: Stan.

"If we get a second season, I'll be so, so happy," she added.

Snow agrees that the story is not over, telling Collider that "there are a lot of questions that didn't get answered because [the creator and showrunner] Rebecca [Cutter] wants to answer them in the next season if we get one."

In a Variety interview, Cutter said that a potential Season 2 would require "a little bit of a time jump — not a year, but a time."

The narrative will delve deeper into Margo and Sophie's complicated relationship. "The first thing I'm thinking about is, where are these two women at the start? Where are they at the end? What are the peaks and valleys of their individual power, of their relationship? So it's tracking a course for that, and then figuring out what the crime engine is."

Cutter added that "it would be smart" to have a new murder mystery. "I don't know whodunit yet or who got done!"

The Hunting Wives is now streaming on Stan.

Feature image: Stan.