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DTF St. Louis is an American dark comedy television miniseries created by Steven Conrad for HBO. The series stars Jason Bateman, Linda Cardellini, and David Harbour, and premiered on March 1, 2026. It received positive reviews and 13 nominations at the 78th Primetime Emmy Awards, including for Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series, as well as acting nominations for Bateman, Cardellini, Harbour, Richard Jenkins, and Joy Sunday.
Contents
Premise
The seven-part series is about a love triangle between three adults experiencing middle-age malaise, which leads to one of them ending up dead. Two detectives investigate and learn the crime is connected to a dating app called "DTF St. Louis", which enables married couples to have affairs. The series is presented in a nonlinear narrative, with episodes often revisiting previous scenes to reveal their place in the overall chronology of events.
Cast and characters
Main
Jason Bateman as Clark Forrest, a weatherman
Linda Cardellini as Carol Love-Smernitch, Floyd's wife
David Harbour as Floyd Smernitch, an American Sign Language interpreter
Richard Jenkins as Detective Donoghue Homer, a county detective
Joy Sunday as Jodie Plumb, a special crimes officer from the Twyla police department
Arlan Ruf as Richard, Carol's son and Floyd's stepson
Peter Sarsgaard as Christopher Spurce / "Modern Love", a man Floyd meets on the DTF St. Louis app
Chris Perfetti as Kevin Van Der Lonse / "Tiger Tiger", a man Clark tries to hire to pretend to be "Tiger Tiger"
Recurring
Wynn Everett as Eimy Forrest, Clark's wife
Aizley Ford as Anabel, Clark's daughter
Maddyn Kendall as Genevieve, Clark's daughter
Asher Miles Fallica as Stephen Queece
Chastity Dotson as Clara Gilchrist
Guest
Chris Conrad as Bob Dalt
Todrick Hall as himself
Production
The seven-part series has Steven Conrad as the series writer, showrunner, executive producer, and director. It started development in 2022 with David Harbour and Pedro Pascal attached to star and executive produce, and was originally inspired by the 2017 James Lasdun article in The New Yorker entitled "My Dentist's Murder Trial: Adultery, False Identities, and a Lethal Sedation".
However, in October 2024, it was announced that Pascal was no longer involved and the creative direction of the series had evolved into a wholly original idea with no connection to the original article, with Jason Bateman joining the series to star alongside Harbour and serve as an executive producer for Aggregate Films. Additional executive producers include James Lasdun, as well as Todd Black, Jason Blumenthal and Steve Tisch for Escape Artists, Molly Allen, Bruce Terris, and Michael Costigan for Aggregate Films, Kristina Wenson for Bravo Axolotl, and MGM Television.
Linda Cardellini joined the cast in December 2024. Richard Jenkins and Arlan Ruf joined the cast in January 2025. Chris Perfetti and Joy Sunday were added to the cast in February.
The main story takes place in Twyla, Missouri, a fictional suburb of St. Louis. A city website was created by the show's production designers, and follows along with the timeline of Floyd's death, and subsequent investigation.
Filming took place in Atlanta, Georgia, in May 2025. The first trailer showed locations in Cumming and Johns Creek, Georgia.
Release
The series premiered on HBO on March 1, 2026.
Reception
Critical response
The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported an 89% approval rating, based on 55 critic reviews, with an average rating of 7.5/10. The website's critics consensus reads: "Steve Conrad zeroes in on the crossroads between the suburbanite mundane and insane with this sly yet telling crime thriller that boasts strong performances by David Harbour, Linda Cardellini, and Jason Bateman." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 71 out of 100, based on 22 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.