Only Murders In The Building's Creators Have One Actor They Want On The Show
"Only Murders in the Building" has rolled out an impressive list of special guest stars over its four seasons and counting. What started as a fun apartment complex murder mystery that brought the unlikely trio of has-been actor Charles-Haden Savage (Steve Martin), flamboyant Broadway director Oliver Putnam (Martin Short), and young artist Mabel Mora (Selena Gomez) together has become a whole series of outlandish yet cozy crime-solving antics — one that, along with Rian Johnson's "Knives Out" films, might just be the most enjoyable example of the whodunnit revival era.
As the central true crime podcaster unit of Short, Martin, and Gomez grows tighter every year, the show has brought in a string of special guest talent to interact (and often butt heads) with them. Folks like Mel Brooks, Paul Rudd, Tina Fey, Nathan Lane, Sting, Shirley MacLaine, Zach Galifianakis, Eugene Levy, Eva Longoria, Cara Delevigne, and even Meryl Streep have all appeared on the show, along with many others. Still, there's one big fish the "Only Murders" crew hasn't been able to catch. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, one of the show's erstwhile and hard-working casting directors, Tiffany Little Canfield, revealed that while the series' creatives actually already got the person they wanted the most (it's Streep, obviously), there's still one almost certainly unattainable name on their bucket list:
"We already got [my white whale]! Meryl. I'm stealing this from casting director John Papsidera, only because it seems impossible since he's retired very publicly, but Daniel Day-Lewis."
Only Murders in the Building might never get Daniel Day-Lewis, but it's hard to complain when Meryl Streep is in your corner
As Tiffany Little Canfield made clear, securing Meryl Streep for "Only Murders" is a massive coup because there's no way to aim higher than her. Streep, after all, has been nominated for 21 Academy Awards, winning three. Great as he is, not even Daniel Day-Lewis (who also has three wins but "only" six Oscar nominations in total) can top that.
That being said, it's true that Day-Lewis' services are considerably more difficult to acquire. Not only has he worked far more sparingly than Streep over the course of their respective careers, but he also hasn't really done TV roles since the mid-1980s. Besides, Day-Lewis has retired from acting, so there's that. And yes, he has since, in a sense, "un-retired" by starring opposite Sean Bean in "Anemone," the 2025 directorial debut of his son, Ronan Day-Lewis, and the actor's first film since 2017's "Phantom Thread." But honestly? That seems a lot more like Day-Lewis adding "father of the year" to his already impressive award cabinet than a full-blown return to acting.
Meanwhile, Streep has been happy to do the occasional side quest on TV projects like "Big Little Lies" and "Angels in America." In fact, Streep blessed "Only Murders in the Building" with her presence because she actively wanted to: Before her recurring character, Loretta Durkin, debuted in "Only Murders" season 3, it was Streep who reached out to the makers of the show to see if they could work together. Sure, if "Only Murders" can lure Day-Lewis in to scowl at the podcaster trio at some point, it absolutely should ... but when the best working actor on the planet has already rang your doorbell, it's probably best to count your blessings.
"Only Murders in the Building" is streaming on Hulu.