The New Season of Feud Explors the Controversial Life of Ann Woodward

The second season of Feud, Feud: Capote vs. The Swans, marked its return on 31st January. The anthology television series consists of eight episodes. The series is based on the book Capote’s Women: A True Story of Love, Betrayal, and a Swan Song for an Era by Laurence Leamer. The first two episodes of the series have premiered and it explores the story of Ann Woodward. 

This time, the plot of the series will revolve around the story of an acclaimed writer Truman Capote, whose elite group of friends are seeking revenge on him after he wrote about their scandalous life in his novel, Answered Prayers. 

The star cast of the series includes Tom Hollander, Demi Moore, and Naomi Watts in the lead roles. Moore is seen playing the role of Ann Woodward, while Hollander portrays Capote. 

If you haven’t watched the latest episodes of Feud: Capote vs. The Swans you can stream it on Hulu. But for the ones who were eagerly waiting for the show and couldn’t get the time to watch it yet, a small discretion – Spoilers ahead!

In the first episode, before the viewers get introduced to Ann Woodward, they will learn about her through a story told by Capote. He shares gossip about Woodward at the dinner party and says, “A murderer is walking free and you all know her. And I’m going to tell her story.”

He builds up the narrative by disclosing the details of the murder. He goes on to describe the low-level socialite who killed her wealthy husband when she believed he might divorce her. This description was enough for the people sitting at the dinner table to assume who the murderer was. The guests claim that initially, they mistook this murder as an accident. Capote then emphasizes even firmly that it was a murder and everyone thought it was an accident because Ann’s mother-in-law, tried to cover up the entire scene to avoid Ann’s arrest. 

Later in the episode, Ann makes her entry. She approaches and accuses Capote of slandering her with his stories about her husband’s death. By the end of the series, Woodward commits suicide after seeing an early copy of the magazine. Capote mentioned in his unfinished novel about Ann, accusing her of her husband’s murder. Though he used the name, Ann Hopkins, it was obvious to all that he was referring to Woodward.

Ann Woodward was a radio actress, whose life took a turn after she got married to banking heir William Woodward Jr. She became a prominent and scandalous figure after she was suspected of her husband’s murder.

There was a string of burglaries in Woodward’s neighborhood, which created a sense of uneasiness among the residents, including Ann and her husband. A few hours later, paranoid Ann heard a voice, and she believed that they were attacked by an intruder. She panicked and aimed the shot into a darkened hallway with her gun. Unfortunately, the figure she mistook to be an intruder was her husband. When the police arrived at the scene they saw Ann sobbing, holding her husband’s dead body. She immediately confessed to the shooting, but she was pronounced not guilty as the jury ruled it an accident. The jury reached the decision as they found a man attempting to rob the Woodwards’ house on the same night as the shooting. This provided some context to Ann’s statement of mistakenly shooting her husband. 

Though the case was soon shut, and Ann was declared innocent, her image in high society was already affected. The incident was labeled as “The Shooting of the Century.” And later, Truman Capote’s publication added to the gossip surrounding Ann’s life. 

According to Ann’s friends, The relentless scrutiny and social isolation pushed her into depression and later she ended her life by taking cyanide.

Her mother-in-law said of her death, “She shot my son, and Truman just murdered her, and so now I suppose we don’t have to worry about that anymore.”

Feud is now streaming via FX on Hulu.