‘How to Get Away With Murder’ Cast Breaks Down Their Characters

ABC’s new Shondaland hit How to Get Away With Murder has a lot going on.

The drama, from Shondaland disciple Pete Nowalk, already has two dead bodies to answer for and a classroom filled with eager students ready to do nearly anything to impress Professor Annalise Keating. Everyone is hiding something and its cast of characters — like Shonda Rhimes and Betsy Beers‘ Scandal and Grey’s Anatomy — lives in the gray area.

With so much going on and the show only one episode in, The Hollywood Reporter quizzed the Murder cast to find out what they think is the most important thing viewers need to know about their respective characters. Here’s what they said.

Photos: Faces of Fall 2014

Viola Davis (Annalise)

She’s complicated, messy, has heart and vulnerability and is a woman in every sense of the word. There’s a famous quote — “If you’re going through anything in life, your story deserves to be told” — and that’s the case with Annalise. Every week, a new layer will be peeled away. At the core of who she is, is someone who is very relatable.

Billy Brown (Nate)

He is not who he seems to be.

Alfred Enoch (Wes)

Wes Gibbins is not a sheep.

Katie Findlay (Rebecca)

The way Rebecca appears is a little overt in the pilot, but people’s stories are not always as they seem.

Aja Naomi King (Michaela)

Michaela is extremely driven. She’s the kind of woman that leans in and makes her presence known wherever she goes. But there will definitely be some things revealed about her as the season progresses.

Story: ‘How to Get Away With Murder’ Creator Breaks Down Shondaland’s New Drama

Matt McGorry (Asher)

I hope the audience finds him funny and different than what I’ve done before.

Karla Souza (Laurel)

Pilots push for viewers to understand who that person is in the first episode, but I wanted to go against that. You don’t know who Laurel is at all. I wanted to push for more mystery within the character.

Charlie Weber (Frank)

He’s a very layered guy. His exterior may or may not be masking other things that are inside of him. Much like every character, no one is what they seem on this show. There are going to be twists and turns throughout the entirety of the season.

Liza Weil (Bonnie)

Every week, more and more layers are going to be peeled away, and there’s going to be new aspects of characters that come through. In the pilot, Bonnie presents very warm and kind and in episode two, that goes away pretty much. It definitely becomes clear that she has more of an edge, and the claws come out when she needs them to. She’s going to do whatever she needs to do to carry out Annalise’s dirty work.

Tom Verica (Sam)

There are a lot of complexities in the relationship. The exploration of that gets really interesting. We’re shooting episode seven right now, and I couldn’t have foreseen the twists and turns that it’s already taken.

How to Get Away With Murder airs on Thursdays at 10 p.m. on ABC. Who are your favorites so far? Hit the comments below with your thoughts.

Email: Lesley.Goldberg@THR.com
Twitter: @Snoodit