‘One of Us Is Lying’: Everything You Need to Know About the Peacock Series

Find out what 'One of Us Is Lying' is about, meet the cast, and find out how to stream the new drama series from Peacock.

by Lauren Anderson

Published on October 6, 2021

2 min read

‘The Breakfast Club’ inspired Karen M. McManus’ book ‘One of Us Is Lying’

Like the students in John Hughes’s iconic film The Breakfast Club, One of Us Is Lying follows five students in detention. They all have something to hide, like the nerd, beauty, jock, rebel, and recluse in Breakfast Club. But the secrets the students in One of Us Is Lying harbor are much more sinister.

Putting her characters in detention forces them to interact with one another and confront their shared differences, according to author Karen M. McManus. “One of my favorite things about [The Breakfast Club] is the bonding that takes place as the characters realize they’re not as different as they thought,” McManus told Book Club Babble in 2019.

“The world constructs so many artificial barriers between people based on surface impressions and narrow definitions: who’s popular, who’s successful, who’s a troublemaker, who’s forgettable,” she added. “But that public face is never the sum total of any individual.” Now, fans of McManus can see her Breakfast Club-inpsired work come to life on Peacock.

‘One of Us Is Lying’ episodes and air dates

“Everyone is a suspect, and everyone has something to hide,” the show’s description reads. The first three episodes premiere on Peacock on Oct. 7, 2021.

One of Us Is Lying will have eight episodes total. Another three episodes will release on Oct. 14, and the final two episodes come out on Oct. 21.

‘One of Us Is Lying’ cast includes stars from ‘Cobra Kai’ and ‘Outer Banks’

One of Us Is Lying features a cast of young actors you may have seen in other popular shows. Stars like Chase Stokes appear in One of Us Is Lying.

Cooper van Grootel as Nate, Chibuikem Uche as Cooper, Mark McKenna as Simon, Annalisa Cochrane as Addy, Marianly Tejada as Bronwyn pose against a table in the library from the Peacock series 'One of Us Is Lying'

Cooper van Grootel, Chibuikem Uche, Mark McKenna, Annalisa Cochrane, and Marianly Tejada | Nicola Dove/Peacock

Several other popular young actors are featured in the series. Here’s a list of characters who appear in multiple episodes One of Us Is Lying and the actors who play them:

Jake Riordan (Carnahan)

Addy Prentiss (Cochrane)

Maeve Rojas (Collazo)

Janae (McLeod)

Bronwyn Rojas (Marianly Tejada)

Vanessa Merriman (Sara Thompson)

Cooper Clay (Uche)

Nate Macauley (Cooper van Grootel)

Kris Greene (Karim Diane)

Javier Rojas (Hugo Ateo)

Kevin Clay (Alimi Ballard)

Ann (Ali Liebert)

Principal Gupta (Purva Bedi)

TJ Forester (George Ferrier)

Does the Peacock series follow Karen M. McManus’ book?

As with any series adapted from a novel, many fans wonder how much the show will stray from the source material. According to showrunner Darío Madrona, One of Us Is Lying is “faithful” to McManus’ story.

“Obviously you want to give people who read the books something new to work with — some surprises and twists,” Madrona tells ET Online. “But we’ve been pretty faithful to the book and the mission in the book is super important. At the end of the day there’s the journey these characters go through and there’s the mystery. It has to be a moment in which both of them collide and become one.”