On Candy, Hulu’s true-crime series about the killing of Betty Gore starring Jessica Biel as accused ax murderer Candy Montgomery, Justin Timberlake makes a surprise appearance in episode four, “Cover Girl,” as Deputy Steve Deffibaugh, the real-life cop who led the criminal investigation. Timberlake, of course, is not the only spouse to show up on the series. Jason Ritter, husband to Melanie Lynskey, who portrays Betty, appears on the limited series as Timberlake’s partner.
While speaking to ET, Biel and Lynskey revealed how their husbands ended up in the final two episodes of Candy and joked about Timberlake and Ritter’s onscreen bromance as the two cops trying to figure out who is responsible for Betty’s death.
As Biel explains, Timberlake was reading the scripts “because I always ask him for his opinion on everything I’m doing,” when he asked who was going to portray the deputy. “He said, ‘Oh, who's playing this character?’ I said, ‘Oh, I don’t know, probably somebody local. We don’t have any money left,’” the actress, who also serves as executive producer on the series, recalls. “And he goes, ‘I want to play it.’”
“The Justin news came first and I thought that was so cool. Obviously, he’s going to bring a certain interest to the project from his own fan base,” says Pablo Schreiber, who portrays Betty’s husband, Allan. “And just to have people that are married getting to work together and on the same set, it’s like a big family.”
Once Timberlake was added to the cast, co-creator and showrunner Robin Veith was inspired to cast Ritter after seeing a picture of him donning a mustache. “Robin was like, ‘Wow, Jason looks like he’s in the '80s,’” Lynskey recalled. “She was inspired by his ‘80s cool, edgy fireman look.”
Schreiber adds, “It felt like we were a little bit of a repertory theater company or something, you know, with all the husbands and wives showing up to support. And that was amazing. So, I was really happy when the casting came out.”
Sadly, Ritter’s mustache didn’t make it onto the series (“He had to lose the stache anyway,” Lynskey says), but that didn’t hamper his onscreen relationship with Timberlake. The two have quite the rapport, which is best displayed during the interrogation scene with Candy.
“They were so brilliant together. Clearly, Jason is a comedic genius and Justin is in his own right as well. And the way they work off each other and the improv that they did, it was amazing to see,” Biel says.
The chemistry they display on the series also spilled over to real life. “The two of them had become besties,” Biel reveals, with Lynskey adding, “They text all the time [and] had a lot of discussion about their character. Also, there were long phone calls.”
Biel and Timberlake both took to Instagram on Wednesday night to share behind-the-scenes photos of themselves in character.
"Belly’s fake, hair’s fake, mustache is real. Meet Duffy," Timberlake captioned his post.
Biel wrote alongside her post, "Watch out, Candy. There’s a new sheriff in town."
When it comes to their bromance, Biel says “it was pretty endearing.”
Candy is now streaming on Hulu.
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