When Sarah Snook disappeared into the role of Shiv Roy for four seasons of “Succession,” audiences witnessed an actress at the peak of her powers. Her return to television in “All Her Fault” proves that wasn’t a fluke. This Peacock limited series, which premiered on November 6, 2025, takes the familiar framework of a missing child thriller and twists it into something far more psychologically complex and morally ambiguous than you’d expect from the genre.
The eight-episode series doesn’t just ask “where is the child?” It forces viewers to confront an uncomfortable question: why do we immediately assume it’s the mother’s fault when something goes wrong?
What Makes All Her Fault Different From Every Other Kidnapping Drama
Let’s be honest, we’ve seen plenty of missing child stories on television. From “The Sinner” to “Mare of Easttown,” the mystery thriller genre loves nothing more than a desperate parent searching for answers. But “All Her Fault” distinguishes itself by focusing less on the procedural investigation and more on the societal tendency to scrutinize mothers with a microscope we’d never apply to fathers in similar situations.
Based on Andrea Mara’s 2021 novel of the same name, the series currently holds a 79% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes with critics praising its “emotionally grounded performances” from Snook and Dakota Fanning. It ranked number one on Peacock during the week of November 10-17, 2025, which suggests audiences are hungry for stories that challenge their assumptions about motherhood, privilege, and moral certainty.
The premise sounds straightforward enough at first. Marissa Irvine, a self-made wealth manager played by Snook, arrives to pick up her five-year-old son Milo from what she believes is a playdate with his classmate Jacob Kaminski. But when the homeowner Esther opens the door, she’s confused. There are no children here. She’s not a nanny. The phone number Marissa used to arrange the playdate has been disconnected.
That’s when panic sets in, the kind that starts in your stomach and radiates outward until your entire body feels like it’s vibrating at the wrong frequency.
The Plot Unravels Faster Than You Can Process It
Jake Lacy plays Peter Irvine, Marissa’s husband who’s introduced as a supportive commodities trader rushing home from work when he learns his son is missing. The police investigation begins under the assumption that this is a ransom situation, given the family’s wealth. Detective Jim Alcaras, played by Michael Peña, leads the case with his partner Detective Monge.
Here’s where things get interesting though. The series introduces us to a whole cast of characters who each carry their own secrets and guilt. There’s Jenny Kaminski, played by Dakota Fanning, whose son was supposedly at this non-existent playdate. Colin Dobbs, portrayed by Jay Ellis, is Marissa’s business partner and best friend. Peter’s siblings Lia and Brian, played by Abby Elliott and Daniel Monks respectively, arrive to support the family but they’re dealing with their own complicated history.
The investigation quickly focuses on Milo’s nanny Ana Garcia, who conveniently left town the same day he disappeared. But she returns for her missing phone and gets cleared when the school reveals that someone named Carrie Finch picked up Milo that day. Carrie was the Kaminskis’ former nanny.
When detectives release Carrie’s photo to the press, the Irvines hold a press conference that spirals out of control. Reporters don’t just ask questions, they accuse. They insinuate. They suggest Marissa and Peter staged the entire kidnapping. This is the “all her fault” moment that the series title refers to, where public opinion and media coverage immediately assume the mother must have done something wrong.
The series doesn’t shy away from showing how class privilege affects the investigation either. Detective Alcaras has his own subplot involving a difficult choice: cover up a rich kid’s crime in exchange for getting his disabled son into a private school. It’s a morally grey area that most procedural dramas would avoid, but this series leans into it.
The Nanny Who Wasn’t Who She Claimed to Be
As Marissa and Jenny dig deeper, they discover matching credit card charges between their nannies Ana and Carrie. The two had been meeting up regularly after school with both boys, and they were also at the Chicago Marathon a few weeks prior. That’s where things get interesting, because Carrie had a suspicious argument with an unknown man at the marathon.
Through social media photos, Alcaras identifies the man as Kyle Smit, who was recently released from prison. His only visitor while incarcerated? Carrie Finch, one week before his release.
A gas station clerk recognizes Kyle from the circulated photo, leading investigators to search nearby lakeside vacation rentals. They find an empty house with children’s items and blood on a cabinet. Kyle’s body is discovered in the lake, cause of death being a gunshot to the back of his head.
Meanwhile Peter receives a ransom call from an unidentified man who threatens to kill Milo if Peter tells anyone about the call. The family is essentially being held hostage by their own knowledge.
The subplot involving Jenny juggling a demanding author while dealing with her apathetic husband Richie provides some interesting commentary on how women are expected to manage everything perfectly. When she catches him lying about parental duties, she asks for a divorce. It’s a small thread in the larger tapestry but it reinforces the series’ themes about the impossible standards society places on mothers.
When Family Secrets Explode Into the Open
A toy that went missing during Easter weekend turns up at the lakeside rental, which raises suspicion among the Irvine siblings, Marissa, and Colin since they were the only ones at that vacation home. On the evening of a television interview arranged by Marissa, the group implodes.
Brian discovers that Peter had looked into spinal surgery for him and lied about not being a compatible match. Then Peter confesses something devastating: he was the one who tripped Brian when they were kids, causing the accident that left him disabled. He let their sister Lia take the blame, which resulted in her developing a pill addiction from the guilt she carried.
These aren’t just plot twists for the sake of it. Each revelation shows how secrets metastasize within families, how one lie leads to another until nobody can remember what the truth looked like anymore.
Alcaras calls with news that a boy has been found in a car trunk at a motel parking lot. Searching nearby rooms, they discover the body of Rob Murphy, a bookie that Colin had been working with due to his gambling addiction. Here’s where the pieces start falling into place in ways you won’t see coming.
Rob Murphy’s ex-wife Irene worked at the same construction site as Kyle. She reveals that Rob is Carrie’s father and that Carrie’s real name is actually Josephine Murphy.
The Backstory That Changes Everything You Thought You Knew
Through flashbacks set five years earlier, we learn that Josie and Kyle were in a happy relationship despite financial struggles, expecting their first child. Kyle gets arrested for drug dealing. Their son dies, and Josie falls into a downward spiral made worse by living with her verbally and emotionally abusive mother Irene.
In the years following, Josie reconnects with her bookie father Rob and begins accompanying him on visits to collect money from delinquent clients. One of those clients is Colin. On Easter weekend, Rob and Josie visit Colin at the Irvines’ vacation rental, where Josie serendipitously meets Milo and notices unique similarities in their personalities that she can’t quite explain.
After Milo is returned (found in the trunk), Josie shows up at the Irvines’ house with a gun. But here’s the thing that makes this series smarter than most thrillers: she’s visibly shaking and distressed, and she explicitly says she’s not there to harm anyone. Colin dies in a struggle for the gun, which feels tragic rather than heroic. Lia leaves to call an ambulance. Josie allows Brian to go upstairs to comfort Milo, who’s now awake and calling for his mother.
Josie explains she isn’t there to take Milo. She’s there to warn Marissa that she needs to protect Milo from Peter. While reaching for a phone with a recording as proof, Peter overpowers her and shoots her, claiming self-defense.
The Truth About What Happened Six Years Ago
Marissa confronts Peter about Josie’s allegations, recognizing the name Josephine Murphy as the woman they’d gotten into a car accident with six years prior. This is where the series reveals its most devastating twist.
Josie and her newborn had gotten into a head-on collision with Peter and Marissa, who were also driving with their newborn son. Both mothers were knocked unconscious. The real Milo died in that crash.
Peter, believing Josie had died and anticipating Marissa’s suffering if she survived, switched the two babies.
Let that sink in for a moment. For six years, Marissa has been raising Josie’s biological son while believing he was hers. For six years, Josie has been haunted by the memory of hearing her son crying in the backseat after the crash, indicating he hadn’t been killed. Combined with the strong emotional connection she felt when she met Milo at the vacation rental years later, she eventually deduced what Peter had done.
Over time she devised a plan to steal Milo back, and Kyle agreed to help after seeing Milo at the marathon and realizing he looked similar to his own father. After the kidnapping succeeded, Josie asked for help from her father Rob, who made the ransom call to Peter.
But Rob betrayed her. He shot Kyle to eliminate witnesses and contacted Peter to come to the motel to pay the ransom while Josie was out. Peter killed Rob, not knowing that Rob’s phone was recording everything. Peter then put a blindfolded Milo in the trunk of a car to be discovered by police, making himself look like the concerned father he never really was.
Marissa’s Impossible Decision and What She Does About It
The police arrive and Peter claims he shot Josie in self-defense. Listening to Rob’s recording, Marissa realizes the full extent of Peter’s crimes: switching the babies on the night of the car accident and murdering Rob at the motel.
Peter convinces her to hand over the phone “for Milo’s sake.” She confides in Jenny that she feels trapped between telling the truth and possibly losing Milo, versus the danger that Peter poses to them both. It’s genuinely one of the most difficult moral dilemmas I’ve seen a television character face, because there isn’t a clear right answer.
At Colin’s funeral, Marissa uncharacteristically makes out with Peter. He develops a severe allergic reaction from soy, but his EpiPen is expired and the emergency kit is missing from the car. As he’s dying, Peter realizes that Marissa had been in charge of his medications and had orchestrated his allergic reaction by eating soy before she kissed him.
The series doesn’t explicitly celebrate this. It presents it as what it is: a desperate woman making an impossible choice to protect herself and her child from a man who had proven himself capable of switching babies and committing murder.
Detective Alcaras visits Marissa at her new home in the final scene. He explains that he figured out Milo was actually Josie’s biological son, but despite it being against the law, he’s closed the case. He has no moral qualms with the outcome.
What the Ending Really Means and Why It’s So Controversial
The ending of “All Her Fault” has sparked considerable debate on social media and among critics. Did Marissa commit murder or was she protecting herself and Milo from a dangerous man? Is Detective Alcaras corrupt for closing the case despite knowing the truth, or is he choosing mercy over rigid adherence to law?
The series refuses to give easy answers, which is precisely why it works so well. Marissa spent six years loving and raising a child she believed was hers. Finding out he’s Josie’s biological son doesn’t erase those years or that love. But it also doesn’t erase the fact that Josie deserved to know her son was alive.
Peter’s decision to switch the babies was presented with some complexity too. He genuinely believed Josie had died in the crash. He wanted to spare Marissa the grief of losing their son. But his willingness to murder Rob and shoot Josie when the truth threatened to emerge reveals that whatever noble intentions he might have had were long gone.
Some viewers have argued the ending condones vigilante justice, while others see it as an exploration of what happens when the legal system can’t provide true justice. If Marissa had turned Peter in, she likely would have lost custody of Milo. If she’d stayed silent, she and Milo would have remained in danger.
The series also differs significantly from Andrea Mara’s novel in how it handles the ending, making the television adaptation feel more morally ambiguous and less tied up with a neat bow.
The Performances That Make It All Work
Sarah Snook’s performance as Marissa showcases incredible range. In the early episodes she’s all panic and desperation, a mother whose world has collapsed. By the finale, she’s calculating and cold in her determination to survive. The transformation feels earned rather than sudden because Snook plays every gradual shift with precision.
Dakota Fanning as Jenny Kaminski provides the emotional grounding that Marissa needs throughout the series. Their friendship feels genuine, which makes Jenny’s subplot about her own divorce and struggles with an apathetic husband feel relevant rather than like filler. When Jenny becomes Marissa’s confidant about the impossible choice she faces, it carries weight because we’ve seen their relationship develop.
Jake Lacy has built a career playing charming guys, which makes his casting as Peter particularly effective. We want to believe he’s the supportive husband until the cracks start showing. By the time we learn what he did, Lacy has fully committed to showing Peter’s capacity for manipulation and violence.
Michael Peña brings unexpected depth to Detective Alcaras, particularly in his subplot about the private school bribe. His final decision to close the case despite knowing the truth reflects his own journey with moral compromise throughout the series.
The supporting cast deserves recognition too. Jay Ellis makes Colin’s gambling addiction feel tragic rather than just a plot device. Abby Elliott’s portrayal of Lia shows how carrying false guilt can destroy someone from the inside. Daniel Monks as Brian brings dignity to a character who could have easily been written as pitiful.
And Sophia Lillis, who plays Carrie/Josie, delivers a transformative performance. She has to make us understand why Josie would do something so extreme while also showing the trauma and desperation driving her actions.
The Uncomfortable Questions About Motherhood Nobody Wants to Ask
“All Her Fault” uses its thriller framework to explore themes that extend far beyond the mystery of a missing child. The series title itself refers to how quickly society blames mothers when something goes wrong with their children. Marissa faces immediate suspicion and media scrutiny in ways that Peter never does, despite being equally responsible for their son’s wellbeing.
The press conference scene where reporters accuse the couple of staging the kidnapping focuses almost entirely on Marissa’s reactions and behaviour. The implication is clear: a “good mother” would behave a certain way in this situation, and any deviation suggests guilt.
The series also tackles working mother guilt head-on. Marissa is a successful wealth manager who built her career through hard work. The fact that she employs a nanny becomes a point of suspicion rather than a practical necessity. Meanwhile, Peter’s career never comes under similar scrutiny.
Jenny’s subplot reinforces these themes. She’s juggling a demanding author, taking care of her son, and dealing with a husband who can’t be bothered to follow through on basic parenting responsibilities. When she asks for a divorce, it’s presented as a moment of strength rather than failure.
The question of who is Milo’s “real” mother haunts the entire series. Is it Marissa, who raised him for five years? Or Josie, who gave birth to him and never stopped searching? The series wisely refuses to provide a definitive answer, acknowledging that motherhood is more complicated than biology or lived experience alone.
Behind the Scenes: From Melbourne to Chicago
The series was filmed in Melbourne, Australia in August 2024, with creators working to capture Chicago’s aesthetic. The quick turnaround from filming to premiere (just over a year) is relatively fast for prestige television.
Creator and writer Megan Gallagher serves as executive producer alongside Sarah Snook, which gave Snook considerable input into how Marissa’s character developed. Directors Minkie Spiro and Kate Dennis split the eight episodes, with Spiro handling the first four and Dennis taking over for the latter half.
Jeff Beal’s score enhances the psychological tension without overwhelming the performances. His work on series like “House of Cards” and “Carnivàle” demonstrates his ability to create atmosphere through music.
The adaptation from Andrea Mara’s novel required significant changes to work for television. Gallagher expanded certain characters and added subplots that weren’t in the original book, particularly Detective Alcaras’s storyline about the private school bribe.
Should You Actually Watch All Her Fault?
If you’re looking for a straightforward procedural where good guys catch bad guys and justice prevails, this probably isn’t for you. “All Her Fault” is uncomfortable and morally ambiguous, refusing to provide easy answers to complicated questions.
But if you appreciate character-driven thrillers that challenge your assumptions, this series delivers. The performances alone justify the watch, particularly Snook and Fanning who elevate material that could have been just another missing child mystery.
The series works best when viewed in the context of other prestige thrillers like “Big Little Lies” and “The Undoing,” which also explore how secrets destroy families and communities. Where “All Her Fault” distinguishes itself is in its willingness to let its protagonist make a truly dark choice without immediately punishing her for it.
All eight episodes are available on Peacock in the United States, while UK viewers can watch on Sky and NOW with episodes released weekly through December 26, 2025.
The series isn’t perfect. Some plot coincidences strain credibility, particularly how Josie happens to meet Milo at the vacation rental. The pacing sags slightly in the middle episodes. But the emotional core remains strong throughout, anchored by performances that never let you forget the human cost of every secret and lie.
“All Her Fault” ultimately asks whether we can love someone who isn’t biologically ours, whether we’d sacrifice our morality to protect our children, and why we’re so quick to blame mothers for circumstances beyond their control. Those aren’t comfortable questions, but they’re worth wrestling with.
