Only Murders In The Building Season 5 Cast List Includes Big Names You Never Saw Coming
Season 5 of Only Murders in the Building is stacking its cast higher than ever. Alongside the usual trio of Steve Martin, Martin Short, and Selena Gomez, the new season is crammed with unexpected cameos that will have fans double-checking the credits.
Only Murders in the Building is back, and the new case cuts close to home. Season 5 sends Charles, Oliver, and Mabel down a fresh rabbit hole after the Arconia’s beloved doorman, Lester, turns up dead. His grieving widow, Lorraine, is left to pick up the pieces, while our trio finds themselves tangled up with a shadowy conspiracy that reaches into New York’s criminal underworld and up into the rarefied air of some very connected billionaires. If you’re caught up, let’s talk cast and what everyone’s up to this season. If you’re not, fair warning: spoilers for seasons 1–4 ahead.
Season 5 cast at a glance
- Steve Martin as Charles-Haden Savage
- Martin Short as Oliver Putnam
- Selena Gomez as Mabel Mora
- Meryl Streep as Loretta Durkin-Putnam
- Da'Vine Joy Randolph as Detective Donna Williams
- Téa Leoni as Sofia Caccimelio
- Bobby Cannavale as Nicky Caccimelio
- Michael Cyril Creighton as Howard Morris
- Keegan-Michael Key as TBC
- Christoph Waltz as Bash Steeg
- Renée Zellweger as Camila White
- Logan Lerman as Jay Pflug
- Jermaine Fowler as TBC
- Dianne Wiest as Lorraine
- Teddy Coluca as Lester
- Jackie Hoffman as Uma Heller
- Beanie Feldstein as TBC
The case: Lester, the Arconia, and the billionaires
The season kicks off with the murder of Lester (Teddy Coluca), the doorman who has quietly kept the Arconia humming for years. His widow, Lorraine (Dianne Wiest), is devastated. As the trio looks into what happened, they stumble onto a bigger network of players that includes three ultra-wealthy wild cards: Camila White (Renée Zellweger), who built a fortune in casinos; Bash Steeg (Christoph Waltz); and Jay Pflug (Logan Lerman). The vibe is very old New York meets new money secrecy, with the city’s underworld lurking around the edges. It’s the kind of inside-baseball twist Only Murders loves: the building you think you know is linked to way more than nosy neighbors and a fussy co-op board.
The trio
Steve Martin as Charles-Haden Savage
Charles is a once-famous TV detective from the 90s (Brazzos) who keeps stumbling into the real thing. He lives at the Arconia, where this whole saga began with Tim Kono’s murder in season 1, followed by the group being framed for Bunny’s death in the finale. Season 3 yanked him into Oliver’s high-wire Broadway comeback, and season 4 forced Charles to face the killing of his stunt double and longtime friend, Sazz. Steve Martin’s comedy résumé is stacked: Three Amigos, Little Shop of Horrors, Parenthood, Father of the Bride, Cheaper by the Dozen, The Pink Panther, and Planes, Trains and Automobiles, with plenty of collaborations with Martin Short along the way.
Martin Short as Oliver Putnam
Oliver is a theater director clawing his way back after Splash! The Musical torpedoed his career. Starting a true crime podcast with Charles was supposed to be a side hustle; it turned into a phenomenon, a murder defense, and eventually a new shot at Broadway. Season 3 blew up his big night when his leading man died on stage, and season 4 put a movie version of Only Murders in motion. Short’s highlights with Martin include Three Amigos, Father of the Bride, The Prince of Egypt, and their Netflix special An Evening You Will Forget for the Rest of Your Life. Elsewhere: Captain Ron, Mars Attacks!, Treasure Planet, plus scene-stealing TV turns on Arrested Development, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, and The Morning Show.
Selena Gomez as Mabel Mora
Mabel moved into the Arconia right before Tim Kono’s murder, which hit hard because they were childhood friends who’d drifted apart after a bad shared history. After helping unmask his killer, she herself was framed for Bunny’s murder before the group uncovered the real culprit: a resentful underling of rival podcaster Cinda Canning. Mabel’s gotten a taste for sleuthing, which pushed and pulled the trio in season 3 and 4. Gomez became a star on Wizards of Waverly Place and in pop music; on screen she’s done Emilia Perez, The Dead Don’t Die, A Rainy Day in New York, voice work in Dolittle and the Hotel Transylvania movies, and hosts the cooking series Selena + Chef.
Arconia regulars and allies
Meryl Streep as Loretta Durkin-Putnam
Loretta spent years grinding in bit parts until Oliver cast her as a lead in his show. She was a suspect before being cleared, and by season 4 she and Oliver made it official with a wedding. Streep’s trophy case is the stuff of legend: 21 Oscar nominations and three wins for work ranging from The Deer Hunter, Kramer vs. Kramer, and Sophie’s Choice to Death Becomes Her, The Devil Wears Prada, and Mamma Mia!, plus recent turns in The Laundromat, The Prom, Don’t Look Up, and Big Little Lies season 2.
Da'Vine Joy Randolph as Detective Donna Williams
Williams is the NYPD detective who keeps telling the trio to stop meddling as they, of course, keep meddling. Over time, she’s become a reluctant ally. Randolph won an Oscar for The Holdovers and has popped up in This Is Us, Empire, Dolemite Is My Name, The United States vs. Billie Holiday, and The Lost City.
Michael Cyril Creighton as Howard Morris
Howard is the tightly wound Arconia resident who once seemed married to his cat and his routines. By season 3, he’s working on Oliver’s show and has essentially become the podcast’s unofficial fourth. Creighton’s also appeared in The Good Fight, Billions, AJ and the Queen, Dexter: New Blood, plus films like Spotlight and Can You Ever Forgive Me?.
Jackie Hoffman as Uma Heller
Uma is very much not in the Charles/Oliver/Mabel fan club and would like the Arconia to be glamorous and quiet again, thank you. Hoffman’s recent TV includes Feud: Bette and Joan, The Politician, and The Marvelous Mrs Maisel.
Dianne Wiest as Lorraine
Lorraine is Lester’s widow, shattered by his death and suddenly pulled into the trio’s orbit. Wiest worked with Steve Martin in the 1989 classic Parenthood and has credits including The Lost Boys, Edward Scissorhands, I Care a Lot, and the sitcom Life in Pieces.
Teddy Coluca as Lester
Lester has been the Arconia’s steady hand for years, the guy who knows everyone’s names and everyone’s secrets. Season 5 opens with his murder, and unraveling why someone killed him becomes the engine of the new mystery.
New faces and season 5 suspects
Téa Leoni as Sofia Caccimelio
Sofia shows up with a problem: her husband is missing, and she thinks the Arconia is connected. It’s cryptic and a little ominous, which is how these things always start. Leoni led six seasons of Madam Secretary.
Bobby Cannavale as Nicky Caccimelio
Nicky is Sofia’s husband, the man who’s vanished under worrying circumstances. Cannavale first broke out on Third Watch, Will & Grace, and Nurse Jackie, then moved into movies like Spy, Ant-Man, I, Tonya, and The Irishman. Lately he’s been in Nine Perfect Strangers, The Watcher, and MaXXXine.
Renée Zellweger as Camila White
Camila is one of the three billionaires caught up in Lester’s death, a casino mogul with deep pockets and, presumably, deeper problems. Zellweger’s best known for playing Bridget Jones across four films, most recently Mad About The Boy. She has two Oscars, for Cold Mountain and Judy, and starred in NBC’s true-crime miniseries The Thing About Pam.
Christoph Waltz as Bash Steeg
Bash is another member of the billionaire triangle. Waltz exploded internationally with Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds and then Django Unchained, played Bond villain Blofeld in Spectre and No Time to Die, and appears in Big Eyes, Alita: Battle Angel, and The French Dispatch.
Logan Lerman as Jay Pflug
Jay rounds out the trio of super-rich suspects. Lerman’s filmography runs from The Butterfly Effect and 3:10 to Yuma to Percy Jackson and The Perks of Being a Wallflower, with recent TV in Hunters and We Were the Lucky Ones.
Keegan-Michael Key as TBC
We don’t have a name yet, but he’s at Lester’s funeral, which is either comforting or suspicious. Key co-created the Key & Peele juggernaut and has starred in Friends From College, Schmigadoon!, Reboot, and Wonka. He’s also done a ton of voice work, including Toad in The Super Mario Bros. Movie, Bumblebee in Transformers One, and Wendell in Wendell & Wild.
Jermaine Fowler as TBC
Another mystery role for now. Fowler’s recent projects include A Murder at the End of the World, The Blackening, and the John Cena comedy Ricky Stanicky.
Beanie Feldstein as TBC
Her character’s still under wraps. Feldstein broke out with Bad Neighbours 2, Lady Bird, and Booksmart, and later portrayed Monica Lewinsky in Impeachment: American Crime Story.
Who’s who from past seasons and notable cameos
Season 4 leaned into meta fun with a movie version of the podcast in the works. Eva Longoria appeared as herself, cast to play Mabel in that film. She’s best known for Desperate Housewives and has also done The Young and the Restless, Jane the Virgin, Empire, and Land of Women, plus extensive producing and directing.
Eugene Levy, also playing himself, was tapped to embody Charles for the movie. You know him from Schitt’s Creek, Splash, Waiting for Guffman, the American Pie franchise, and the travel doc series The Reluctant Traveler.
Zach Galifianakis showed up as himself, set to play Oliver, trying to study the man to nail the role. He’s famous for The Hangover trilogy, Baskets, Due Date, The Beanie Bubble, Birdman, and voice roles in Puss in Boots, The Lego Batman Movie, and The Bob’s Burgers Movie.
Molly Shannon played Bev Melon, a no-nonsense film exec hungry to adapt Only Murders for the big screen — but she needed life rights from Charles, Oliver, and Mabel first. Shannon’s TV work includes Saturday Night Live, Enlightened, Divorce, The White Lotus, and voice roles in Igor and the Hotel Transylvania series.
Paul Rudd’s Ben Glenroy, a blockbuster star trying to go legit on Broadway, died on opening night of Oliver’s play in season 3 — the poison twist that fueled that mystery. Rudd’s been everywhere from Clueless, Anchorman, The 40-Year-Old Virgin, and Knocked Up to leading Marvel’s Ant-Man, with credits in Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Endgame, Ghostbusters: Afterlife, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, and The Shrink Next Door.
Jesse Williams played Tobert, a documentary filmmaker who teamed up with Mabel to dig into Ben’s death. Williams is best known as Dr. Jackson Avery on Grey’s Anatomy, and appeared in The Cabin in the Woods and The Butler.
Ashley Park’s Kimber was a stylish, trend-savvy actor in Oliver’s show — very TikTok fluent, which kept Mabel on her toes. Park recently led Joy Ride, co-starred in Beef, and is a regular in Emily in Paris and Girls5eva.
Tina Fey’s Cinda Canning — queen of the true crime podcast charts — tried to weaponize her platform against our trio until her assistant Poppy (aka Becky Butler) was unmasked as a killer. Fey’s credits include 30 Rock, Mean Girls, Date Night, Muppets Most Wanted, Pixar’s Soul, and the co-created Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.
Jane Lynch’s Sazz Pataki, Charles’s stunt double and friend, appeared throughout seasons 1–4 before her death rocked Charles last season. Lynch is beloved for Glee and has credits in Role Models, Paul, Wreck-It Ralph, Arrested Development, and The Marvelous Mrs Maisel.
Matthew Broderick popped in as himself in season 3 as a possible recast for Oliver’s show. His classics include Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, WarGames, The Cable Guy, The Lion King, plus recent work in No Hard Feelings and Better Things.
Nathan Lane’s Teddy Dimas, an old friend and backer of Oliver’s notorious Splash! fiasco, was suspected in Tim Kono’s case but cleared — though he was tied to a black-market jewelry ring. Lane has starred in The People v OJ Simpson: American Crime Story, The Good Wife, Modern Family, and The Gilded Age.
Cara Delevingne’s Alice was the art-world catalyst for Mabel’s creative and romantic reset in season 2. Delevingne moved from modeling into films like Paper Towns, Suicide Squad, and Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, and co-starred in Carnival Row.
Amy Schumer played a heightened version of herself in season 2, moving into Sting’s old apartment. Beyond stand-up, Schumer broke out with Inside Amy Schumer and has starred in Trainwreck, Snatched, and I Feel Pretty.
Jayne Houdyshell’s Bunny, the Arconia board president, tried to evict the trio after season 1’s chaos, then wound up murdered herself — with our podcasters framed until the truth came out. Houdyshell’s appeared in Law & Order: SVU, American Odyssey, The Good Fight, Garden State, Downsizing, and Little Women.
Amy Ryan’s Jan Bellows was the unforgettable season 1 twist: a charming bassoonist dating Charles who turned out to be Tim Kono’s killer after a secret affair went wrong. Ryan’s film highlights include Gone Baby Gone (Oscar-nominated), Changeling, Birdman, with TV turns in The Wire and The Office.
And yes, Sting really played Sting in season 1 — because of course the Arconia would have a rock legend subletting. On screen, he’s popped up in Dune (1984), Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, and self-referential cameos in Ally McBeal, The Vicar of Dibley, and Zoolander 2.
Final word
Season 5 looks like classic Only Murders: a personal loss, a messy web of suspects, and a building that’s way more connected than anyone wants to admit. The billionaires are flashy, the stakes feel sharper, and if history is any guide, the truth is hiding in plain sight — probably in an elevator, a stage door, or the world’s most chaotic podcast recording.