The Residence: Get excited for this White House murder mystery

When a dead body is found on the third floor of the White House, the murderer could be anyone – even Kylie Minogue.

Netflix has released the first teaser trailer for upcoming murder mystery comedy The Residence, which has now been dated for release on March 20, and it features a bevy of suspects (157 of them) and “the best detective in the world”.

That sleuth is Cordelia Cupp (Uzo Aduba), who has been called in to investigate when someone is killed during a White House state dinner.

It could be one of the tuxedo-ed and gown-ed guests, which includes Minogue as herself, any of the White House power brokers, or it could even be one of the throngs of staff.

The show, which hails from Shonda Rhimes’ production outfit, was inspired by a non-fiction book, The Residence: Inside the Private World of the White House by Kate Anderson, but the story is most definitely not a true story.

A whodunit in the most powerful house in the world as it untangles the web of conflict both upstairs and downstairs could be a delicious cosy murder mystery.

There is a raft of comedic actors playing some of quirky characters. There is an FBI agent (Randall Park), the president’s deadbeat brother (Jason Lee), a suspicious head chef (Bronson Pinchot), the executive pastry chef (Isaiah Whitlock) and the chief adviser (Ken Marino).

There’s also Julian McMahon playing an Australian PM they’ve named Stephen Roos, so you know the filmmakers are taking this very seriously. McMahon, in case you didn’t know, is also the son of a real-life former PM, Billy McMahon.

Given the presence of an Aussie PM and Minogue, perhaps the state dinner is for Australia?

While it’s not explicit in the teaser, the victim is Giancarlo Esposito’s character, the White House chief usher.

There are several pointers in the video, including a snippet of a scene featuring Susan Kelechi Watson, who plays an assistant usher, who says her boss died. Esposito is also only shown in scenes where things seem calm and not in the chaotic aftermath, which suggests he might only be in flashbacks or in early scenes.

The character was originally to be portrayed by Andre Braugher. After his death, Esposito was announced as the replacement.

Aduba told Netflix website Tudum, “The Residence is a different take and spin on the house that we all know – it’s a peek inside a world we that we don’t often get to see. The show begs the question, ‘Who runs the house?’. The answer is not what we think it is.”