Juliette Lewis Has Surprise Role in “Cape Fear” Series 35 Years After Starring with Robert De Niro in Movie Version
Juliette Lewis Has Surprise Role in “Cape Fear” Series 35 Years After Starring with Robert De Niro in Movie Version
Benjamin VanHooseFri, June 12, 2026 at 6:04 PM UTC
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Juliette Lewis in 'Cape Fear' (2026)Credit: Courtesy of Apple
Warning: This article contains spoilers for Cape Fear episode 3, now streaming on Apple TV.
Juliette Lewis has a surprise role in the new Cape Fear series, with her identity revealed in episode 3, which premiered June 12
Lewis earned an Oscar nomination for starring in the 1991 film version of Cape Fear with Robert De Niro
The new series stars Amy Adams, Javier Bardem and Patrick Wilson
Juliette Lewis is back to her Cape Fear roots, and this time she is tormenting Max Cady.
Apple TV's new psychological thriller series is inspired by Martin Scorsese's 1991 Cape Fear movie, itself a remake of a 1962 film adaptation of the novel The Executioners, published in 1957.
Here, Javier Bardem is the latest to play the sinister, seductive Max Cady, previously played onscreen by Robert De Niro and Robert Mitchum.
In the show, Max was locked up after taking a plea deal in a murder case. Years later, he's exonerated and released from prison, hell-bent on getting revenge on his former lawyer Anna Bowden and her prosecutor husband Tom, played by Amy Adams and Patrick Wilson.
At the end of episode 3, titled "Phantom Sensations," which dropped on Friday, June 12, it is revealed that the hooded, masked woman who's been stalking everyone is played by Lewis, 52.
Juliette Lewis in 'Cape Fear' (2026)Credit: Courtesy of Apple
In a grainy video left for Max in his home, she removes her face covering and smiles at the camera.
"Hey Max. I heard you got out," she says in the video, before pulling out a microphone and singing a creepy rendition of the '90s song "Jingle of a Dog's Collar" by the band Butthole Surfers. The tune seems to trigger Max's PTSD.
Disturbed, Bardem's Max shouts, "Oh no! Shut the f--- up!" while grabbing his head. Then, he picks up the TV set and smashes it while Lewis' mystery character smiles ominously onscreen.
Juliette Lewis in 'Cape Fear' (2026)Credit: Courtesy of Apple
Thirty-five years ago, Lewis earned an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Cape Fear. She played Danielle Bowden, the teenage daughter of Nick Nolte and Jessica Lange's Sam and Leigh Bowden, who is manipulated and preyed upon by De Niro's vengeful ex-con Max Cady.
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Robert DeNiro and Juliette Lewis in 'Cape Fear' (1991)Credit: MCA/Courtesy Everett
Nick Antosca, showrunner of the Cape Fear series, tells PEOPLE the creative team didn't want to go overboard with callbacks to the old movie.
"We didn't want to make it a distracting thing. You don't want to do just a cameo for one scene and it's like, 'Oh, there's so-and-so.' We wanted it to be meaningful and also not take too much attention away," he says.
Adds Antosca, "So I was on set with Juliette on another show [The Act] years ago when we first started talking about Cape Fear. And I always knew that I wanted her to play a meaningful role in the series."
Scorsese and Steven Spielberg, producer on the 1991 film, gave their blessings to the new show, serving as executive producers on it.
"At the table read, [Scorsese] came on at the very beginning and said to everybody, 'Much love. Go forth. Have an amazing time. Make something new and cool,' " says Antosca. "Throughout, both of them were reading scripts, sending us thoughts. They watched the cuts. They've been extraordinary partners."
Antosca says this iteration of Cape Fear is a "surprising new version of the story that is so intense and scarier than past versions."
"This is a timeless story. It's a timeless nightmare," he explains. "Every version of Cape Fear reflects the time in which it was made and speaks to the fears of the society in which it was made. That was why I was excited to make a new version. In this version of Cape Fear, you're going to see a very contemporary nightmare and you're going to see a cast of incredible actors going head to head."
New episodes of Cape Fear drop Fridays on Apple TV.
on People
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
