The way Viola Davis purrs "How to get away with murder" in the How to Get Away With Murder pilot is already iconic. Yep, we said it. Iconic.
ABC has heavily promoted the show with the Oscar nominee saying the title of her own series for months and for good reason. It's chilling and effective. So much so it's how we say the show's name around the offices so we had to get the rest of the How to Get Away With Murder cast in on saying "How to get away with murder." In the video above, we asked the stars of the new ABC series to do their best Viola Davis impersonation. The results? See for yourself.
In the new ABC series created by Peter Nowalk with executive producers Shonda Rhimes and Betsy Beers, Davis plays Annalise Keating, an ace defense attorney and law professor. She assembles a team of her law students to get real-world experience with her at her firm. The results? Drama with a dash of soapiness and comedy. It's everything you want after watching Grey's Anatomy at 8 p.m. and Scandal at 9 p.m.
"I draw so much from her in the writing," Nowalk told us about Davis at the 2014 Summer TCA Press Tour. "She just tells me things and I'm like, ‘Oh! That gives me ideas.' It's a gift." In fact, Nowalk said as the writers start breaking down the character Annalise Keating, he welcomes Davis' input. "She's so smart and deep in a way that you're like, ‘I had not heard that before.' I'm not a woman. It's just a gift, she's the bomb."
The first episode features as many twists and turns as your favorite episode of Scandal—it's not just the clients who have secrets on How to Get Away With Murder. And there are a series of flash-forwards that shake things up for the new legal thriller.
Nowalk said the flash-forwards continue to be a puzzle as the season progresses, with each character getting a focus. "We really want to give every character moments to shine," he said. "To make them pop. We don't know much about Frank or Bonnie in the pilot, but I do know they'll become pivotal to the story."
The show also stars Alfred Enoch, Billy Brown, Jack Falahee, Katie Findlay, Aja Naomi King, Charlie Weber, Matt McGorry, Liza Weil, Tom Verica and Karla Souza.
How to Get Away With Murder premieres Thursday, Sept. 25 at 10 p.m. on ABC.