Uzo Aduba Admits She Was 'Not Expecting' That 'Curveball' Ending in The Residence: 'I Was Blown Away' (Exclusive)

"I genuinely had no idea. I had a guess, but I was wrong," Aduba tells PEOPLE of the shock ending

Uzo Aduba as Cordelia Cupp, Giancarlo Esposito as A.B. Wynter, Susan Kelechi Watson as Jasmine Haney, Ken Marino as Harry Hollinger, Isiah Whitlock Jr. as Larry Dokes in episode 101 of The Residence.
Uzo Aduba in 'The Residence'. Photo:

Jessica Brooks/Netflix

The final episode of The Residence blew everyone away — including Uzo Aduba!

While exclusively speaking to PEOPLE about Netflix's latest whodunit series, the actress, 44, confessed she was shocked when she discovered who had killed White House Chief Usher, A.B. Winter (Giancarlo Esposito) in the last episode.

According to the show's official logline, the series tells the story of "132 rooms. 157 suspects. One dead body. One wildly eccentric detective. One disastrous State Dinner." Aduba, who stars as famous detective Cordelia Cupp, attempts to solve an unexpected murder "set in the upstairs, downstairs, and backstairs of the White House, among the eclectic staff of the world's most famous mansion."

Uzo Aduba as Cordelia Cupp, Randall Park as Edwin Park in episode 101 of The Residence.
(L) Uzo Aduba and Randall Park in 'The Residence'.

Erin Simkin/Netflix

"We didn't know," Aduba said of the killer. "It wasn't until we got the script ourselves and I read it. And I remember I truly did not know going into reading episode eight. I genuinely had no idea. I had a guess, but I was wrong."

When she finally read which character had committed the murder, the Orange is the New Black alum revealed, "I was blown away. Like, whoa! That was a curveball I was not expecting at all."

"But then, when you read [creator] Paul [William Davies]'s words and the how and the why," she explained. "It's a really sophisticated tie-up for the whole [series]."

The Residence. Uzo Aduba as Cordelia Cupp in episode 101 of The Residence
Uzo Aduba in 'The Residence'.

Jessica Brooks/Netflix

She noted how the showrunner was able to set the show in "an iconic building" that everyone is familiar with but shift the focus away from the politics.

"It's not about parties, it's not about anything to do with that area of the house. It has more to do with the upstairs, downstairs of politics — of the inner workings of the staff of the house who run the house," she continued. "He does this really seamless thing of tying back into the culprit, the whole of the American ideal that I think is really quite exquisite."

In addition to Aduba and Esposito, The Residence, based on Kate Andersen Brower's book of the same name, also stars Randall Park, Susan Kelechi Watson, Paul Fitzgerald, Dan Perrault, Spencer Garrett, Edwina Findley, Molly Griggs, Jason LeeKen Marino, Al Mitchell, Bronson Pinchot, Julieth Restrepo, Mel Rodriguez, Isiah Whitlock Jr. and Mary Wiseman.

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The Residence is available to stream on Netflix.

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