Wilderness Cast: Meet the Stars of Prime Video’s Juicy New Thriller Series

Prime Video’s new thriller series Wilderness is already making a splash by having a truly great bop as its theme tune in Taylor Swift’s ‘Look What You Made Me Do’, but there’s much more to enjoy here than that. The raunchy show follows a young writer called Liv, whose dream life with her handsome and wealthy husband falls apart when they move stateside and she catches him cheating on her. Their “make or break” dream holiday is set to crumble into a nightmare, albeit a scenic one, when Liv sets out to get her revenge.

The cast of Wilderness may be small, but it’s stacked with notable actors, some of whom might seem very familiar to you. If you can’t remember where you’ve seen them before, or just want to know more about them, we’re here to help!

Jenna Coleman as Liv

Blackpool-born Jenna Coleman is the star of Wilderness, and she’s very popular over in the UK. After having seen her performance in the new Amazon show, you can probably see why that is! Coleman manages to get our sympathies from the outset, even though we know almost straight away that her character Liv is going to be responsible for at least one deadly act.

Previously, Coleman starred as Clara Oswald, the companion of the Eleventh Doctor (Matt Smith) in Doctor Who. The character of Clara was a very popular addition to the long running British sci-fi series, but Coleman ultimately left the role to star as Queen Victoria in the period drama Victoria. Since then, she has landed big parts in the miniseries The Cry, The Serpent, and in Netflix’s Neil Gaiman adaptation The Sandman, where she played Johanna Constantine. She also had a very brief moment on screen in Captain America: The First Avenger back in 2011! 

Oliver Jackson-Cohen as Will

Oliver Jackson-Cohen will be very familiar to those with a Netflix account and a penchant for the weird and spooky, as he’s formerly had roles on two of the streaming service’s most popular creepy shows, The Haunting of Hill House and The Haunting of Bly Manor, where he played Luke Crain and Peter Quint respectively. But you don’t have to be a Netflix-head to have seen Jackson-Cohen in the horror genre, as he also starred as Elizabeth Moss’ abusive husband in Blumhouse’s The Invisible Man. He’s really good at playing a villainous but very handsome hubby, which makes him perfect for the role of cheating company man Will in Wilderness!

The actor is the son of famous fashion designer Betty Jackson, but if you’re ever getting “royalty” vibes from Oliver, that may be because he played Prince William in Will & Kate: Before Happily Ever After over a decade ago!

Ashley Benson as Cara

Fans of Pretty Little Liars will be delighted to see Ashley Benson popping up (and then down) as Will’s smitten side piece Cara, as Benson played Hanna Marin in the teen mystery-drama series. Outside of that hit show, she featured in films Bring It On: In It to Win It, Spring Breakers, and Her Smell. Before all that, she had a regular role in the daytime soap opera Days of Our Lives as Abigail Deveraux from 2004 to 2007, and also starred in the ill-fated witch-y series Eastwick, which was canceled after 11 episodes but still managed to gain a cult following online.

Eric Balfour as Garth

Eric Balfour is TV royalty! Though he’s never become a household name, Cara’s oblivious but chill boyfriend has starred in a slew of hit shows over the years, including 24, Six Feet Under, Haven, The OC, Ray Donovan, and The West Wing. The Buffy the Vampire Slayer fandom will never forget him as Xander’s best friend Jesse in the first two episodes, “Welcome to the Hellmouth” and “The Harvest”. Poor Jesse, we still feel bad about his fate!

Balfour has also snagged many roles on the big screen. He was the star of the first Skyline movie, and played Kemper in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake. 

Claire Rushbrook as Caryl

Liv’s toxic and infuriating mother Caryl is played by Claire Rushbrook, an English actress and another Doctor Who vet! She had guest roles in the Who episodes “The Impossible Planet” and “The Satan Pit”. Rushbrook is also known for her appearances in the films Secrets & Lies and Spice World, and on the small screen she has previously appeared in Mutual Friends, Whitechapel and Collision.