UPDATE 2/8 at 11:49 a.m. ET — An official trailer for the movie dropped on Thursday, February 8.
“This whole thing was a setup,” Denise Richards says as the women realize that their plane crash was no accident.
Melyssa Ford replies: “Your husband wired an entire forest to capture his wife’s survival of a plane crash?”
Elsewhere in the teaser, Richards admits, “Maybe there’s some things I haven’t told you about my marriage.”
Original story below:
Denise Richards and NeNe Leakes can use their past experiences as Real Housewives as inspiration for their latest film roles.
TV network Lifetime announced on Thursday, February 1, that Richards, 52, and Leakes, 56, will team up for a made-for-TV movie called Hunting Housewives.
According to a logline, the film follows four housewives as they “find themselves stranded in the wilderness” after a plane crash.
“They must use their wits and determination if they ever hope to make it back home to their families,” the synopsis reads, per People.
Dancing With the Stars alum Kym Johnson-Herjavic and Melyssa Ford round out the Hunting Housewives squad. In the flick, the four friends attempt to take a “much-needed spa retreat” away from their families before their plane to the getaway crashes.
“With no knowledge of basic survival, the housewives must use their wits and whatever is in their designer bags to try to survive in the rugged wilds,” the summary adds. “When they realize they are not alone, even frenemies must align to outwit their hunters.”
Lifetime also dropped a “first look” at the film, which premieres next month, via Instagram. In one pic, Richards looks glam in her sequin gown while having a conversation. A second image shows the friends huddled under a silver emergency blanket in the middle of a forest.
Of course, Hunting Housewives is not Richards or Leakes’ first experience with the “housewives” label. Richards, for her part, starred on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills during seasons 9 and 10. While she opted to leave the franchise in 2020, she returned for a cameo during a season 12 episode in late 2023.
“I didn’t have a bad experience,” Denise recalled of attending Kyle Richards’ weed dinner during a January 2024 episode of Melissa Gorga’s “On Display” podcast. “At a certain point in your life, it’s whatever. I’ve had everything under the sun written and said about me. I’m like, ‘OK, so there’s a night where I’m at a weed party and I’m slightly sideways.’ Of all places to be sideways, I would rather be sideways at a weed party.”
Leakes, meanwhile, was a staple on The Real Housewives of Atlanta on and off between seasons 1 to 11. She left RHOA after 2019’s season 12.
“It wasn’t an easy decision for me. It was hard,” Leakes said in a September 2020 YouTube video. “I’m just so happy that I can say that I was a part of a genre that opened up doors for Black ensemble reality shows. I want to thank everybody [who] has looked up to me over the years. … I want to thank Bravo for all the memories. Thank you to the cast for all of the memories.”
Two years later, Leakes sued Bravo and executive producer Andy Cohen, who never addressed the claims, for allegedly fostering a hostile and racist working environment. The lawsuit was ultimately dismissed in August 2022.
Hunting Housewives premieres on Lifetime on Saturday, March 9.
