Grosse Pointe Garden Society's Aja Naomi King Previews NBC's Twisty New Murder Mystery

Aja Naomi King doesn't quite know why she keeps being tapped to play characters who are trying to get away with murder, but she's not about to start protesting now. After playing one of five students embroiled in the death of their criminal law professor's husband on ABC's How to Get Away With Murder, the Emmy-nominated actress now stars as one of four suburbanites entangled in a death in their garden club in NBC's Grosse Pointe Garden Society, which premieres Sunday, Feb. 23.

"I recognize just how fascinated people are by [covering up murders], because you are looking at seemingly normal people, which everyone can relate to, and then they get plunged into this insane situation," King told TV Guide. "I think people do like to fantasize about: What would they do if they were in that situation? How would they protect themselves or their families? How would they get rid of a body? Everyone has their own ideas of, 'Ooh, they messed up there. I wouldn't have done that!' And I love that kind of engagement because I know when I'm watching stuff like that, I'm like, 'Oh no! Don't do that! That's going to get you caught!'"

Created by Jenna Bans and Bill Krebs (Good Girls), the soapy drama series — which is best described as a compelling cross between HTGAWM and Desperate Housewives — stars King as Catherine, an unhappily married mother of two who initially uses her day job as a realtor to cheat on her husband and channels some of her loneliness into becoming one of the top members of her Garden Society. It's a juicy character that King, who was admittedly looking for "something fun and a little out-of-the-box" in her next role, could not wait to sink her teeth into.

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"This woman has this perfectly curated life, so all of my own OCD tendencies were able to come to life through this character," King said with a self-deprecating laugh. "I really loved that she wanted to give off this air of perfection, and has this strong, type-A quality. The series does delve into the origins of that in a really fantastic way, which I think will be incredibly enjoyable for our audiences.

"But all of it isn't what it looks like, because then we start to see underneath it all the lived-in experience for her is actually really constricting, and this is a world of her own making," King added. As her life "starts growing wildly out of control," Catherine is forced to navigate "the tension that comes about when you are wrestling with who you actually want to be, which would require her to dismantle everything that she's built, while also simultaneously trying to protect it in the midst of this murder that occurs."

It's at her garden club — where people from all walks of life cross paths — where Catherine meets her three eventual co-conspirators: Birdie (Melissa Fumero), an entitled, wealthy bestselling author who is sent to volunteer at the club as part of her community service for a DUI; Brett (Ben Rappaport), a garden store manager who put his dreams of starting a car restoration business on hold to raise his children before discovering that his wife was cheating on him; and Alice (AnnaSophia Robb), a high-school English teacher.

From her initial reading of the pilot script, King felt "it was so easy to see and visualize this woman's life and what she was like." In King's eyes, Catherine grew up feeling constrained "in this town where everyone knows everyone" and is "a byproduct of a family that is incredibly wealthy, powerful, and impactful in this neighborhood."

Now, as a mother herself, King said she knows intimately the questions that are in the back of every parent's mind: "Who's the best mom? Who's doing [everything] for their kids? Who curates their lives? Who cuts the sandwiches in a certain way or makes sure they're eating the perfect ingredients?"

By trying to "project this constant flawlessness and ease," Catherine is "slowly suffocating under the pressure of all of that," explained King. "That's when her recklessness begins to bleed through with the affair, and then we're going to see some other things as the show progresses. It's been really fun finding that specificity for her and just wrapping my brain around: 'If I was the kind of woman that cared a lot about how everyone perceived me and my standing in my community, what would that look and feel like?'"

Catherine's meticulous nature will come in direct conflict with Birdie's disregard for the pecking order in the Garden Society. For instance, in the series premiere, when Birdie tries to usurp Catherine's position in the food chain, Catherine immediately pushes back. While those little interactions may come across as frivolous to most viewers, King reiterated that social status is "everything" to Catherine.

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"It's interesting to me that she feels safest admitting this affair to Alice and Brett first, because they are people in the town that don't have that much power, so it's easier somehow to be a truer version of herself with them," King remarked of the power dynamic in the show. "We really do see that over the course of the season — how she allows herself to be more vulnerable, open and honest, and how the bits of recklessness that she encounters or undergoes actually allows her to get closer to her true self."

Grosse Pointe Garden Society continues King's trend of playing ambitious Black women who are on the verge of losing everything. After starring as the overachieving, authority-seeking (and at times infuriating) Michaela Pratt in all six seasons of HTGAWM, King earned an Emmy nomination and a Critics' Choice nomination last year for portraying lawyer-turned-activist Harriet Sloane in the Apple TV+ historical miniseries Lessons in Chemistry.

"The ambitious [nature] but also with so much to lose is what allows it to have nuance and be real, because I think everyone feels like they have so much to lose if they don't make the next right move," King said of her attraction to playing these kinds of women. "I think it's very important to see characters — especially to see a Black woman — being human, succeeding, failing, living, having heartbreak and sorrow, but also having the highest of highs and enjoying every moment of life."

But the actress is also quick to note that there have seldom been many depictions of upper-class Black people — and Catherine is certainly unlike anyone she has ever played in terms of wealth and privilege.

"I think it's important to promote the image that there are wealthy Black women who are powerful and have a lot of access and therefore have so much more to prove and so much to lose," she said. "It's just important to have that kind of variety in spaces and to not erase people's existence, because I think we look to these mediums to feel seen, to feel better understood in our lives. Sometimes, a lot of what is being reflected at people allows them to take a deeper look at what's going on in their lives or the life of someone that they know, and to just have more compassion or understanding."

King understood the value and importance of that kind of representation first-hand on HTGAWM, the "magical" show she credits for helping to launch her and many of her castmates' careers. Lauded for its diverse ensemble, the series was groundbreaking in its unapologetic depiction of an openly bisexual Black lawyer (played by Viola Davis) whose unscrupulous legal tactics, as well as her struggles with alcoholism and childhood abuse, made her one of the most complicated antiheroes in TV history.

"I have had a lot of people come up to me — a lot of young Black women especially — and say that they went to law school because of that show," King said, her voice growing fonder in reminiscence. "I love that because I think these spaces need more inclusivity and diversity of thought and experiences to better support people going through legal situations. And if our show inspired someone to look into it, that's amazing. Of course, I'm always like, 'We do a case in a single day, and that is not at all how the legal system works, so I apologize for that misdirect!' But I'm happy about the people that do decide to go into that field, because they felt like they could make an impact.

"I know Viola made a tremendous impact on my life just in terms of how to be a leader on a set and how to also take care of yourself, your character, and your storyline, and to know that you are a co-contributor and your voice matters," she continued. "I feel like I've been able to bring all of that with me to this show, because you end up spending more time on set with your fellow cast and crew mates than you do at home with your families, so it should be a positive, wonderful environment to be in."

When she spoke with TV Guide in early February, King revealed that she was still filming the first season of GPGS and still didn't know whose body was wrapped in the blanket and buried in the titular garden. "We're still getting closer and closer to unwinding that mystery even for us, which is also fun," she said.

Much like HTGAWM, GPGS will play out across two timelines — the months leading up to the Garden Society's winter gala where the homicide took place, and the death itself and its immediate aftermath. "So as the season progresses, you start understanding who the potential suspects are; you start to also get to see the motivations for why it could be such and such people. It's a wonderful opportunity to place bets on who will be dead by the end of the season," King previewed.

"You get to see the way in which we try to cover this up — what will be successful, what will not be successful, and how we end up. It is really hard to try and talk about this without giving away too much, like how we end up aligning with one another to come up with certain arrangements to keep ourselves safe," King added with a laugh. "But for me personally, I'm like, 'Four people keeping a secret? That's three too many!' So what's going to happen?"

Grosse Pointe Garden Society premieres Feb. 23 at 10/9 on NBC. Episodes stream the next day on Peacock.