This article is about the series, How to Get Away with Murder. For the Middleton University class with the same name, see Criminal Law 100. |
How to Get Away with Murder, often abbreviated to HTGAWM, is an American serial legal drama series created by Peter Nowalk. The first episode garnered high acclaim by critics and audiences alike, and topped the week of its release with 14 million viewers.
Plot[]
Season 1 (2014-2015)[]
- Main article: Season 1
Annalise Keating is everything you hope your Criminal Law professor will be - brilliant, passionate, creative and charismatic. She's also everything you don't expect - sexy, glamorous, unpredictable, and dangerous. As fearless in the courtroom as she is in the classroom, Annalise is a defense attorney who represents the most hardened, violent criminals - people who've committed everything from fraud to arson to murder - and she'll do almost anything to win their freedom. On the surface, Annalise seems like she has it all - a successful career and loving husband, Sam - but her relationship with a local Philadelphia detective, Nate, will force her to confront secrets about her life she never saw coming.
Each year, Annalise selects a group of the smartest, most promising students to come work at her law firm. The students vying for this coveted position include Wes Gibbins, a wide-eyed, likable boy-next-door recently accepted off the waitlist; Michaela Pratt, a confident, ambitious overachiever born knowing how to "lean in"; Connor Walsh, a sly, sophisticated heartbreaker used to getting any prize he lays his eyes on; Laurel Castillo, a quiet, sensitive idealist who's easy to underestimate; and Asher Millstone, an entitled know-it-all born into a world of Ivy League educations and country club memberships. The students all work under two of Annalise's dedicated associates: Frank Delfino, a local Philly boy done good; and Bonnie Winterbottom, a sweet, observant team-player with a hidden edge.
Season 2 (2015-2016)[]
- Main article: Season 2
Annalise and her students must move on with their lives as though nothing has happened, but the students are still reeling over Rebecca’s disappearance. Only Annalise and Frank know that Rebecca was murdered and the two are determined to find out who killed her. Meanwhile, Annalise decides she wants to take on a new client, a brother and sister who are accused of killing their parents. And an old friend surprises Annalise at home and teaches her a valuable lesson.[3]
Season 3 (2016-2017)[]
- Main article: Season 3
Murder, deception, fear and guilt are the ties that bind Middleton University Professor Annalise Keating to her long-time associates Frank Delfino, Bonnie Winterbottom and her students, the “Keating 5.” But as the group struggles to move on with their lives and focus on their clients, their past continues to haunt them. With Wallace Mahoney’s murder unsolved and Frank’s whereabouts still unknown, Annalise and her inner circle struggle to keep their secrets from getting exposed. Relationships will be fractured, lies will spin out of control. But when one of the Keating 5 is found dead in Annalise's house all hell will break loose.
Season 4 (2017-2018)[]
- Main article: Season 4
After Wes' death, Annalise (Viola Davis), Michaela (Aja Naomi King), Connor (Jack Falahee), Asher (Matt McGorry) and Laurel (Karla Souza) all struggle to move on with their lives, but when a new mystery involving one of their own unfolds throughout the season, relationships are fractured, secrets are exposed and yet another terrifying truth is revealed.[4] This season will uncover all the events leading up to Wes's death which happened here Fire at the Keating House.
Season 5 (2018-2019)[]
- Main article: Season 5
Season 5 picks up after Annalise’s (Viola Davis) class action victory in the Supreme Court, with Michaela (Aja Naomi King), Connor (Jack Falahee), Asher (Matt McGorry) and Laurel (Karla Souza) moving on with the next chapter of their lives. Per ABC’s logline: a new mystery involving one of their own will unfold, as relationships are fractured and new secrets are exposed.[5]
Season 6 (2019-2020)[]
- Main article: Season 6
The show's final season follows Professor Annalise Keating's (Viola Davis) class through their final semester in law school – while the deception, fear and guilt binding Professor Keating to her students prove deadlier than ever.[6]
Cast[]
- Main article: Cast & Crew List
How to Get Away with Murder features a large ensemble of cast members, listed below are the fourteen actors of the series who have, at some point, been credited under "Starring", indicating that they are main cast members. They are ordered alphabetically, with the exception of Viola Davis and Timothy Hutton.
- Viola Davis - Annalise Keating
- Billy Brown - Nate Lahey
- Alfred Enoch - Wes Gibbins (main, seasons 1-3; guest, afterward)
- Jack Falahee - Connor Walsh
- Katie Findlay - Rebecca Sutter (main, season 1; guest, afterward)
- Rome Flynn - Gabriel Maddox (main, seasons 5-6; guest, previously)
- Aja Naomi King - Michaela Pratt
- Matt McGorry - Asher Millstone
- Conrad Ricamora - Oliver Hampton (main, seasons 3-6; recurring, previously)
- Karla Souza - Laurel Castillo (main, seasons 1-5; recurring, afterward)
- Amirah Vann - Tegan Price (recurring, season 4; main, seasons 5-6)
- Charlie Weber - Frank Delfino
- Liza Weil - Bonnie Winterbottom
- Timothy Hutton - Emmett Crawford (main, season 5)
Ratings[]
Season | Episodes (viewers in millions) | ||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Ep. 1 | Ep. 2 | Ep. 3 | Ep. 4 | Ep. 5 | Ep. 6 | Ep. 7 | Ep. 8 | Ep. 9 | Ep. 10 | Ep. 11 | Ep. 12 | Ep. 13 | Ep. 14 | Ep. 15 | |
Season 1 | 14.12 | 11.94 | 10.81 | 9.79 | 9.97 | 8.68 | 9.18 | 9.25 | 9.82 | 9.18 | 8.34 | 8.44 | 8.86 | 8.99 | 8.99 |
Season 2 | 8.38 | 7.53 | 7.22 | 6.81 | 6.95 | 6.27 | 6.49 | 6.71 | 7.19 | 5.82 | 4.88 | 4.86 | 4.53 | 4.80 | 5.29 |
Season 3 | 5.11 | 4.33 | 4.40 | 4.00 | 4.29 | 4.07 | 4.08 | 4.32 | 4.95 | 5.41 | 4.69 | 4.92 | 4.66 | 4.92 | 4.92 |
Season 4 | 3.96 | 3.88 | 3.88 | 3.56 | 3.56 | 3.56 | 3.71 | 3.72 | 3.80 | 3.54 | 3.68 | 3.26 | 4.14 | 3.36 | 3.83 |
Season 5 | 2.93 | 3.02 | 3.22 | 2.74 | 2.93 | 2.91 | 3.02 | 3.13 | 2.84 | 2.74 | 2.58 | 2.74 | 2.57 | 2.56 | 2.76 |
Season 6 | 2.43 | 2.56 | 2.23 | 2.10 | 2.25 | 2.16 | 2.21 | 2.28 | 2.16 | 2.91 | 2.78 | 2.81 | 2.77 | 2.70 | 3.20 |
- For specific references on the ratings for episodes, see the individual episode pages.
- The most watched episode of the entire series is the first episode of the first season titled "Pilot" with 14.12 million viewers.
- The least watched episode of the entire series is the fourth episode of the sixth season titled "I Hate the World" with 2.10 million viewers.
Broadcast[]
How to Get Away with Murder airs on Thursdays at 10pm, Eastern Time. The series debuted as part of a new line-up for ABC entitled "TGIT" ("Thank God It's Thursday"), along with fellow Shonda Rhimes-produced series, Grey's Anatomy (8pm) and Scandal (9pm).
In Canada, the series airs with sim-subbing of advertising in same timeslot on CTV, though it airs three hours earlier before the original ABC timeslot in the Atlantic Time Zone on CTV Atlantic in the Maritime Provinces.
The series began airing on TV2 in New Zealand and the Seven Network in Australia on February 10, 2015. In Australia, the show moved to 7flix from the second half of season two onwards and like in the US, airs in a programming block dedicated to Shonda Rhimes-produced dramas.
In Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Hong Kong, Thailand and Indonesia the show airs on Sony Channel (Asia) within 12 hours of its original broadcast. In India, it airs on Star World Premiere.
DVD releases and online availability[]
- See: How to Get Away with Murder: The Complete First Season & How to Get Away with Murder: The Complete Second Season.
Season 1 and Season 2 of How to Get Away with Murder have been released on DVD, while Netflix currently streams all six completed seasons where available. As per agreement with ABC Studios, each season is added a month after its finale premieres.
The latest five episodes to air are carried on Hulu the day after their premiere. Additionally, individual episodes may be purchased from most online video retailers, including Amazon and iTunes.
Trivia[]
- Except Viola Davis, who is the lead actress of the series, and Timothy Hutton, who receives the "and" credit, the rest of the cast members who are billed as regulars are arranged in alphabetical order, judging by their second names.[7]
- TV ad rates for 30-second spots have been:
- A deal was made between ABC and Viola Davis that the series would be a limited series with only 15 or 16 episodes per season.[13][14]
- Saying this, Shonda Rhimes considered the idea of doing a 15-episode season because keeping the tone of the show over more episodes would affect the show's whole picture negatively.[15]
- The show's set is located immediately next to Scandal's — with both casts becoming close right off the bat. "They've all come down and given us pieces of advice," co-star Jack Falahee says, singling out a recent exchange with Scott Foley. "Those little bits of reassurance and guidance have been a real treat."[16]
- The scriptwriters, at times, keep the actors in the dark about upcoming plotlines. Alfred Enoch, who plays Wes Gibbins, revealed that he had no idea that his character was a murderer until the table reading of the episode ("Kill Me, Kill Me, Kill Me") in Season 1, when it is revealed that is was Gibbins who killed Sam Keating. He also noted that it was a very different way to work. However, not knowing the ending can actually be beneficial to the actors, because being unsure of the outcome produces more raw emotions which could potentially translate better onscreen-- but whether this point was evident in the acting remains debatable.[17]
- Many of the characters didn't turn out how Peter Nowalk had originally envisaged. He recalls thinking that Bonnie was going to be "bubbly and the antithesis of Annalise: the nice cop to the bad cop". But Liza Weil, who plays her, brought "a real heaviness to the role that was so much more interesting".[18]
- The show takes its general direction from the American legal system and employs a legal consultant, Bruce Cormicle (who happens to be the lawyer husband of executive producer Betsy Beers). But, while some aspects of the series are true to life, including the general structure of the legal system, and the specific points of law that are discussed, legal commentators have pointed out that the scripts also deviate a great deal from the real world in many ways.[19]
- In July 2016, an Italian television network aired an episode of How to Get Away with Murder with one difference: A gay sex scene between Connor (Jack Falahee) and Oliver (Conrad Ricamora) had been not simply censored, but deleted from the episode. It didn't take Italian fans long to figure out that the scene had been doctored, and they let Falahee know about it on Twitter. Falahee tweeted his outrage, and then executive producer Shonda Rhimes and creator Pete Nowalk added their tweets against Rai Due, the Italian broadcaster. Falahee took the step of sharing a Change.org petition calling for the station to rescind the censorship, promoting the hashtag, #LoveIsLove. The social media furor gathered steam, and the following week, Rai Due caved to pressure and aired the episode unaltered, claiming there had been a misunderstanding during the initial doctored episode.[19]
- How to Get Away with Murder has gotten a lot of press for its envelope-pushing sex scenes. While the regular cast members must be accustomed to the exposure, Season 2 guest Kendrick Sampson, who played Caleb, said in an interview that he wasn't quite prepared for how far his scene with Aja Naomi King (aka Michaela) would actually go. He claims the mammoth sex montage scene in Season 2, where nearly every character is hooking up, had the cast on a "sex diet" and avoiding the service tables full of food.[19]
External Links[]
- Official website
- Official Facebook
- Official Twitter
- Official Instagram
- Official Google+
- Official Pinterest
- How to Get Away with Murder on Internet Movie Database
- How to Get Away with Murder on Wikipedia