GARDEN SOCIETY Key Art | ©2025 NBC

Created by Jenna Bans & Bill Krebs, the new dramedy GROSSE POINTE GARDEN SOCIETY jumps back and forth in time to reveal how four volunteers of the title organization – wealthy Birdie (Melissa Fumero), real estate agent Catherine (Aja Naomi King), landscaper Brett (Ben Rappaport), and high school teacher Alice (AnnaSophia Robb) – wind up having to bury a body together in the dead of night. The series moves from Sundays to Fridays on NBC beginning April 4, with episodes thereafter available on Peacock.

Matthew Davis plays Grosse Pointe sheriff Joel, who knew Birdie back in high school. Joel married his wife some time after she adopted now-teen Ford (Felix Wolfe), who is Birdie’s biological son. Now that Joel and Birdie have encountered each other again, some sparks fly.

Davis, originally from Utah, spent a number of years as Dr. Alaric Saltzman on both THE VAMPIRE DIARIES and its second spinoff, LEGACIES, as well as guesting on DIARIES’s first spinoff, THE ORIGINALS. He was also a series regular on WHAT ABOUT BRIAN and CULT. Davis’s film credits include TIGERLAND, PEARL HARBOR, and MENTOR.

When Davis gets on a Zoom call with ASSIGNMENT X to talk about GROSSE POINTE GARDEN SOCIETY, his enthusiasm for both the project as a whole and his character is evident.

“I got the audition about a year ago,” Davis relates, “and read the sides, immediately fell in love with Joel. I immediately could see the dynamic between Joel and Birdie, which I thought was really exciting and enticing.

“I put my work down on tape for the audition, sent it off, and there was just something very different about the writing. Bill and Jenna are brilliant, brilliant writers, and the writing is so refreshing and so intriguing and so engaging, it just fills you with so many choices naturally. I describe the writing as super-clear water, where you can just see to the bottom. You can see the detail, you can see the grains of sand, you can see the scales of the fish, you can see every little detail for you to choose and pick from. And so, it was there right away when I read it.”

After the audition, Davis continues, “I couldn’t stop thinking about it. I knew Joel was special. I was in a unique place in my life, and about two weeks later, I got the offer. I believe I was one of the first people cast; at least, that’s what I was told.

Matthew Davis as Joel in GROSSE POINT GARDEN SOCIETY | ©2025 NBC / Sally Montana

“In a weird way, I wasn’t surprised that I booked it, because I felt a really interesting connection to Joel, unlike anything I’ve ever experienced in my twenty-five-year career. And so, this journey getting involved in the GROSSE POINTE GARDEN SOCIETY, has been extra-special on lots of levels.”

One of those levels is the fact that GROSSE POINTE GARDEN SOCIETY shoots in Atlanta. When Davis was informed of this, he recalls with a laugh, “I was like, ‘Great! I live in Atlanta!’ They decided to shoot in Assembly Studios, which is a brand-new studio literally twenty minutes down the street.”

Viewers might not know going in that Joel will be a significant character. “The pilot was fun,” Davis says, but “I only had one scene, two lines. And then they gave us [the scripts for] Episodes 2 and 3 right after, and then I read 2, and realized, ‘Oh, oh, Joel and Birdie are going to be something.’ You could immediately tell it was going to be big and interesting, and unlike anything I’ve seen on television.”

While we still don’t know who the murder victim is, we do know at least some of what Joel is willing to do for Birdie. “I love that they set it up for the audience [in] Episode 2. She runs to him, he’s a cop, she confesses the murder, you don’t know what he’s going to do, you don’t know what their relationship is. I was shocked when I read that scene, where they go back after confiscating the murder weapons, and they’re in his office, and says, ‘Are you still mad at me?’ And then he closes the blinds and he turns to her, and he kisses her. It’s just this shocking moment where you realize, ‘Oh, they have a relationship. What is going on? How did this happen?’ And then the show goes back in time and brings the audience up to speed. You get to see in flashbacks how their romance begins.”

The pair are an example of the attraction of opposites, Davis points out. “The idea that someone like Birdie would come running to the police station to sit opposite Joel in his office and confess to this murder she’s a part of, and he helps her cover it up, I [thought], ‘That is so cool.’ I don’t know that I’ve seen that kind of relationship on screen before, certainly not told in this way before. And it’s very exciting. It’s very exciting. Because then they started releasing [scripts for] Episode 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 – we’re [shooting] 12 now – and they just get better and better and better. They really explore how the Joel and the Birdie of it emerge. The scenes they’ve written for us – there’s so much there, it’s so dynamic, and I’m really excited for the audience to take that journey with us.”

How would Davis describe Joel?

“I love his composure. I love that he’s unimpressed by wealth,” Davis laughs. “I think he’s got an interesting perspective on relationships and women. I think he’s at a place, at least with Birdie, where he has this feeling that women are like the air, in that you can’t possess them. And he loves Birdie’s free spirit.

“And so, his dynamic with her is, he’s not co-dependent. He’s very confident in who he is, and very grounded in his worldview. I think he just loves to resonate with Birdie, and he’s comfortable letting her be her chaotic self. And I think he loves her authenticity.

“He’s got this composure, he’s got this frame, and every scene he engages with her in, he’s just delighted by her. He’s kind of unflappable in many ways. And so, I love the fact that she runs to him to help cover up this murder, and he does. And I just love that about him.”

Why does Davis think Joel is so quick to break the law when it comes to Birdie?

“He’s in a place in his life where he’s disillusioned a little bit by the system. He’s unimpressed by the system. I think he’s yearning for deeper connections. His marriage isn’t going well, and Birdie shows up, and she’s the most exciting, captivating woman he’s probably ever met, and I think he’s in a place where he understands how to resonate with her correctly. I think she’s a special character. I think he sees a vulnerability in her that other people don’t. He sees something in her that I think she feels, and they build this trust and a growing loyalty that I think is really sexy and cool. And again, I love that dynamic. I love Joel so much. I’ll play that guy all day long.”

Follow us on Twitter at ASSIGNMENT X
Like us on Facebook at ASSIGNMENT X

Article Source: Assignment X
Article: Exclusive Interview: Actor Matthew Davis on Season 2 of the NBC dramedy GROSSE POINTE GARDEN SOCIETY

Related Posts: