Malin Akerman's Wig In 'Hunting Wives' Has a Good Reason for Existing, Despite Fan Criticism

Many fans have pointed out that Malin Akerman is clearly wearing a wig in Netflix's new series, The Hunting Wives, and that the wig was doing a disservice to the actress. However, the show's creators had a very specific goal in including the wig, even if it did not look particularly realistic. The Hunting Wives has taken Netflix by storm since its recent release, captivating audiences with its plot twists, unique storyline, and characters.

Is Malin Akerman Really Wearing a Wig in The Hunting Wives?

In The Hunting Wives, Margo actress Malin Akerman was clearly wearing a wig to give her a particular hairstyle and color for the role. However, the wig didn't really satisfy fans, as many viewers took to social media to point out how the wig looked unrealistic and was clearly fake hair. This also caused fans to express their frustration with the show not using Akerman's real hair, as many pointed out that they believed Akerman's real hair looked way better than the wig did.

Although Akerman's real hair could have been used for the show, the creators had a very specific reason for making her wear a wig. The Hunting Wives is an adaptation of a book of the same name by author May Cobb. Even though some aspects of the book have been changed for the Netflix series, The Hunting Wives creators tried to get the on-screen version of Margo to appear the same as the version in the book. Therefore, they needed to change Akerman's hairstyle and color, so a wig was used.

As mentioned, though, a lot of fans did not like that The Hunting Wives put a wig on Malin Akerman. For instance, X user @scrappynbdy expressed that "the wig was terrible," even if it was solely used to keep the show accurate with the source material:

"No, bc Malin’s hair is perfect. I know they were following the Margo’s hair in the books, but the wig was terrible."

@RegularBlack_ included a photo in their post of a shot where Akerman's wig looked particularly clunky and unrealistic, saying that it "should've been better than" what it was:

"And this was like a Tyler Perry show, because y'all know damn well Malin Ackerman's wig should've been better than this!"

Nicole Kidman was brought up by @whoresthedog, likely due to Kidman wearing a lot of subpar wigs in projects she has appeared in:

"Literally, why would they put that insane wig on Malin Akerman like she's Nicole Kidman?"

@InHollywoodland simply stated that they "hate how terrible Malin Akerman's wig is" in The Hunting Party, continuing the trend of fans noticing how bad the wig was.

Akerman had a good reason for wearing a wig in The Hunting Wives. Any time a novel or book series is adapted into a TV series, fans want as much accuracy as possible, and that is what Netflix tried to bring with the recently released thriller.

However, the wig Akerman wore could have been made to look more realistic. It likely wasn't cheap, but the crew could have seen that it didn't look great during filming and could have made a new one that still accurately represented Margo from the book while also looking like Akerman's real hair.

Malin Akerman's Hair in Other Projects

Watchmen

One of Malin Akerman's biggest roles early on in her career was in 2009's Watchmen, where she portrayed Silk Spectre. Once again, to bring accuracy to the big screen, Akerman was given a brown wig.

Akerman's Watchmen wig transformed the actress's hair from blonde to brown while also giving her eyebrow-length bangs.

Couples Retreat

Once again, the blonde actress was given brown hair with a tinge of red in it for 2009's Couples Retreat. 

In the comedy, Akerman played Ronnie, the wife of Vince Vaughn's Dave, as the two went with other couples to a retreat in order to repair their marriage.

Childrens Hospital

Akerman also appeared in a TV series titled Childrens Hospital in the early to mid-2010s. In that series, she looked a lot more like herself, as her character was given blonde, curly hair, which is similar to how Akerman has traditionally worn her real hair.

In Childrens Hospital, Akerman portrayed Dr. Valerie Flame.

Billions

While Akerman is known for having longer hair both in real life and through the characters she portrays, that was not the case for her role in Billions.

In that TV series, where Akerman played Lara Axelrod, she wore a wig that gave her short, blonde hair with bangs.