Radha Mitchell stars as the wife and mother whose seemingly perfect life is turned upside down after her husband is murdered.
It's only then she learns that he was involved in illegal activities, and she has to commit to taking over his criminal dealings in order to keep her family safe.
"I think the challenge of the show was putting the brakes on, let's keep this woman real," she said. "So she assumes this dual identity but she doesn't change in a way that's unbelievable."
The mob boss she's forced to deal with is played by former "ER" star Goran Visjnic.
"He's kind of like getting impressed with this woman who's this soccer mom, house wife, suddenly actually deals quite well in this criminal world and these missions that he's sending her to," Visjnic said.
"What I love about the show is that you don't have one dimension," he said. "You remember 'Godfather,' these people would kill people and go to church and be nice to their family and nice to their children and all that stuff. It's got a little bit of that world that you're going to see here."
Visjnic has plenty of TV experience; this is Mitchell's first time on a series.
"Acting is acting, but you are moving at a different pace let me tell you," Mitchell said. "That is something you learn, you learn the pace."
"Red Widow" is filled with surprising twists, and creator Melissa Rosenberg promises all will be revealed.
"We get to the end and we will know who killed Evan, we will know who took the coke, and the question of the series is how will Marta extricate herself from this world," Rosenberg said.
"Red Widow" debuts Sunday 9 p.m. on ABC7.
