First Look: LeToya Luckett in Lifetime’s ‘I Thought My Husband’s Wife Was Dead’

Lifetime has unveiled the trailer for its LeToya Luckett-starring movie, I Thought My Husband’s Wife Was Dead. The forthcoming thriller premieres Saturday, Aug. 3, at 8 p.m. ET on the network.

Based on Minka Kent‘s 2022 novel Unmissing, the film also stars Sherilyn Allen, Jamall Johnson, and Angela “Blac Chyna” White. 

I Thought My Husband’s Wife Was Dead follows Lola Winters (Sherilyn Allen), a wife and mother-to-be who is living happily with her husband, Leon Winters (Jamall Johnson), in their beautiful home and running her successful restaurant business.

Lola’s picturesque life gets disrupted when Tori (LeToya Luckett), who had been missing for five years and presumed dead, randomly shows up at her home searching for her husband, Leo. With Tori’s expected return, tensions rise, and lives are turned upside down as everyone questions her motives, including why she hadn’t gone to the authorities. 

Courtesy of Lifetime

In an interview with The Breakfast Club, LeToya Luckett talked more about the Lifetime movie and shared advice for viewers.

“Don’t be the watcher that watches for 30 seconds and be like, ‘OK, what’s next? Let me just get on IG.’ No, you have to be invested in this movie because it’s not a slow-moving movie at all,” Luckett said. “As a matter of fact, it’s going to catch you immediately, but I feel like in order for you to really get into it, you have to put some things down, sit there and actually watch [and] engage. I think your mind is going to be blown by the end of the movie.” 

Luckett also explained why she chose to take on the role. “The thing about being an actor is you can’t judge the character. So I couldn’t go into this thing saying, ‘Well, Toya wouldn’t do that’ or, ‘Would Toya really say that?’ I can’t do that. The reason why I decided to play this character is because I felt her story deserved to be told and there are people…may be suffering in silence or feel like they’re being treated unfairly in a marriage or any kind of relationship, and they don’t have the guts to speak up about it.”

Luckett continued, “This was something that was out of the ordinary for me. I’ve played the well-to-do wife who has it all together. I got in there and was like, ‘Strip me down. I want to look absolutely crazy.’ 

I Thought My Husband’s Wife Was Dead was written by Tamara T. Gregory and directed by Troy Scott. 

I Thought My Husband's Wife Was Dead movie poster
Courtesy of Lifetime

In 2022, Luckett starred in Line Sisters alongside Kierra Sheard-Kelly. In the previous year, she played in Lust: A Seven Deadly Sins Saga, which also starred fellow R&B singers Keri Hilson and Tank

Speaking on Line Sisters, Luckett told Rated R&B, “When I was introduced to the film, and after reading the script, I felt the desire to finally get my chance to be a part of a sorority, I had to take this big chance and take this big leap.”

She continued, “There were so many different layers to this film. I felt that the scary part was yes, a big layer, but not one that I should turn away from the film. There was fun, sadness, and so many things that I could relate to. I was like, ‘Let’s do this. Let’s have fun with this.’ I’m glad I did.”

LeToya Luckett
LeToya Luckett. (Courtesy of Black Music Honors)

It’s been seven years since Luckett released her last album, Back 2 LifeThe underrated project included the single “B2L” and a feature from rapper Ludacris on “Grey.” 

“I wish that album would have garnered more ears than it did,” Luckett told Rated R&B in a 2022 interview. “I was going through a transition in my life and felt myself growing. I wanted to share it on an album, and I felt like that was that album. It was kind of the closest to being an independent album for me. Instead of being with a major label, I had so much control of this album.”

Watch the trailer for Lifetime‘s movie I Thought My Husband’s Wife Was Dead, starring LeToya Luckett, below.