Let’s be real for a second. When ABC first started promos for the US remake of the British hit Mistresses, most people thought it would just be a Desperate Housewives lite. A bit of scandal, some expensive wine, and a lot of cheating. But then we met the Mistresses TV show cast, and things got weirdly personal. It wasn't just about the affairs. It was about four women who were kind of terrible at life but great at being friends.
It’s been over a decade since Savannah, April, Karen, and Joss first hit our screens in 2013. Honestly, the casting was a lightning-in-a-bottle moment that the show struggled to maintain once the original quartet started fracturing. You’ve got Alyssa Milano, Yunjin Kim, Rochelle Aytes, and Jes Macallan. On paper? It’s a random assortment of TV veterans and newcomers. On screen? It was pure, unadulterated soap opera magic.
The Savannah Davis Departure: The moment everything changed
Alyssa Milano was the "get." Coming off Charmed, she brought instant credibility and a massive fanbase to the Mistresses TV show cast. She played Savannah "Savi" Davis, the high-powered lawyer who supposedly had it all until she blew up her marriage with Harry (played by the very charming Brett Tucker).
Savi was the anchor.
But then came the Season 2 finale cliffhanger. And then came the news that Milano wasn't coming back for Season 3 because production moved to Vancouver to save money. She chose her family over the commute. It makes total sense for a mom, but for the show? It was a gut punch. The writers had to scramble. They brought in Jennifer Esposito as Calista Raines, but let’s be honest: you can’t just swap out the lead sister-figure and expect the chemistry to stay the same. Esposito is a powerhouse, but the "Savi-shaped hole" in the group was glaring.
It’s funny how a cast change can expose the fragility of a show’s premise. Mistresses was built on the four-way phone calls and the brunch scenes. When Milano left, the show lost its moral compass—even if Savi’s morals were, uh, questionable at best.
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Why Karen Kim deserved better (and why Yunjin Kim was brilliant)
Can we talk about Karen Kim?
Yunjin Kim, fresh off the massive success of Lost, took on the role of a psychiatrist who starts an affair with a terminal patient. Then she starts a relationship with his son. Then a throuple. It was a lot.
Most actors would make Karen feel like a caricature. Yunjin Kim didn't. She played Karen with this sort of stilted, intellectualized vulnerability that made you root for her even when she was making the worst possible choices. Honestly, the Mistresses TV show cast benefited so much from her range. She could go from a heavy therapy session to a ridiculous romantic entanglement without missing a beat.
The show eventually did the unthinkable and killed her off.
It felt cheap. Karen had survived so much nonsense just to fall off a balcony? Fans were livid. By the time the show ended in Season 4, the original vibe was basically gone. But Yunjin's performance remains the most underrated part of the entire series.
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Jes Macallan and the Josslyn Carver evolution
If Savi was the anchor and Karen was the soul, Joss was the fire. Jes Macallan was relatively unknown when she joined the Mistresses TV show cast, but she ended up being the breakout star. Josslyn Carver was supposed to be the "fun, slutty sister."
She became so much more.
Over four seasons, we saw Joss go from a real estate agent who didn't believe in monogamy to a woman dealing with genuine trauma, legal battles, and a complicated marriage to her sister’s ex-husband. Yeah, that happened. The chemistry between Macallan and Brett Tucker (Harry) was so palpable that the writers basically had no choice but to lean into the drama of Joss falling for Harry. It was messy. It was "wrong" by social standards. But man, it was good television.
The supporting men who held it together
- Brett Tucker (Harry Davis): The Aussie chef who somehow stayed likable despite the show putting him through the emotional wringer.
- Jason George (Dominic Taylor): The "other man" who was actually a pretty decent guy. George eventually left for Grey's Anatomy and Station 19, but his presence in the early seasons was vital.
- Justin Hartley (Scott Trosman): Before he was making everyone cry on This Is Us, he was a plastic surgeon on Mistresses.
The Rochelle Aytes factor: April Malloy’s grounded chaos
Rochelle Aytes played April, the widow who finds out her husband faked his death. April’s storylines often felt like they were in a different show entirely. They were heavy, family-oriented, and centered on her daughter, Lucy.
Aytes brought a much-needed "normalcy" to the group. While the others were dealing with throuples and legal disbarment, April was just trying to run a shop and keep her kid sane. The Mistresses TV show cast needed that balance. If everyone is dialed up to an 11, the audience gets exhausted. Aytes kept the show's feet on the ground.
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Behind the scenes: Why the show ended when it did
Ratings were okay, but the move to Vancouver and the loss of Milano were the beginning of the end. By Season 4, the show was leaning hard into the "summer soap" trope. It was fun, but it lacked the bite of the first two seasons.
When ABC canceled it in 2016, it wasn't a huge surprise, but it left a lot of threads dangling. We never got a true "reunion" of the original four. That's the tragedy of most soaps—the cast moves on, the budget shrinks, and the magic evaporates.
What you can learn from the Mistresses TV show cast today
If you’re looking to rewatch or dive in for the first time, pay attention to the blocking in the group scenes. Those four women actually felt like they liked each other. In an era where "female friendship" on TV is often just catfights, Mistresses showcased a fierce, ride-or-die loyalty.
Next Steps for Fans and New Viewers:
- Watch the UK version first: If you want to see where the DNA came from, the original British series is shorter and punchier.
- Follow the cast's current work: Most of the Mistresses TV show cast moved on to huge things. Jes Macallan became a fan favorite on Legends of Tomorrow, and Jason George is a staple of the Shondaland universe.
- Appreciate the fashion: Seriously, the costume design for Savi and Joss was top-tier 2010s professional-chic.
- Analyze the pilot: The first episode is a masterclass in setting up four distinct lives that are inextricably linked.
The show wasn't perfect. It was soapy, dramatic, and sometimes logically bankrupt. But the cast? They were the real deal. They took a premise that could have been tacky and turned it into a cult classic about the messy reality of being a woman in your 30s.