How To Get Away With Murder: 10 Hidden Details About Annalise Keating Everyone Missed

The ABC legal procedural How To Get Away With Murder took the audience quite by storm and won its lead actor, the brilliant Viola Davis, a Primetime Emmy for her role as the extraordinary defense attorney, Annalise Keating.

Despite the endless drama and the shocking twists and turns, the steadily dwindling Keating 5 somehow managed to graduate from Middleton Law. And Annalise, damaged beyond repair though she was, was the glue that kept her little sociopathic brood together. Here are a few little details about this ferocious criminal lawyer that the audience might have missed.

10 Not Just Wigs

Annalise has had an abundance of coifed wigs ever since the first season, so much so that one can perhaps identify the season based on what Annalise’s hair looks like.

The wigs do not only represent the wealthy, expensive life that the attorney leads, or at least an attempt to maintain elegance even after her life becomes a mess, but they also carry a deeper meaning. In a way, they represent the artificial, hypocritical, public mask the lawyer has to put on when she is dealing with other people– a prop that represents her dual life.

9 Annalise Loves Ice Cream

One would have lost count of the number of times the ice cream bucket came out throughout the series. But in season 6, Annalise actually put it into words–she loved ice cream.

Every time a murder had to be covered up, a fugitive harbored or an innocent person framed for a ruthless crime, out came the ice cream. Yes, Annalise did love her booze but she also loved her ices. And she didn’t have any preference either, it seems. Any flavor would do!

8 A Custom-Created Vodka Brand

Speaking of booze, turns out the brand of vodka that Annalise often clings to for life is not even a real one. The showrunners created an entirely new brand for the series called Kashchey.

Drinking is shown to be one of the major undoings of this otherwise confident character who is capable of decimating the prosecution simply with her words. Aside from the scene where she pulls off her mask and wig, the scenes where she develops a serious alcohol dependence are also landmark moments on the show, stripping the character of all its glamor and bringing out the lost, insecure woman underneath.

7 Off Came The Mask

For those who remember, one of the most memorable scenes from season 1 of HTGAWM was Annalise Keating taking off her wig, peeling the lashes of her eyes, and wiping off every last trace of makeup from her face as she sat in front of the mirror.

But many might not know that this entire scene was in fact Viola Davis’ creative contribution. It was Davis’ idea to peel the mask off and show Annalise for the raw, vulnerable woman she was. The scene would go down in the annals of history as one of the most powerful scenes involving a black woman, or any woman for that matter, on television. Davis won hearts and was critically acknowledged for her liberating decision on screen.

6 The Lovemaking Scenes

HTGAWM is nothing if not sexy, as one would expect from a Shonda Rhimes show. Almost every other scene has someone or the other getting busy in the sack. And at least in the earlier seasons, Annalise had her fair share of hooking up, usually with Billy Brown, who plays Annalise’s boyfriend-turned-ally, Nate Lahey.

Viola Davis spoke about the sex scenes on Ellen and mentioned that she wasn’t very comfortable having her mother in the room when the steamy scenes came up. She also stated that she usually opted to have a lot of body make up during such scenes to make sure they appeared sexy.

5 A Busted Back

The same lovemaking scenes that made Viola uncomfortable having her mother around also gave her a busted back at one point.

Davis stated that in one such scene Billy Brown had pushed her against a wall while filming. The pain in her back notwithstanding, Davis continued to give the shot but had to request the writers to slow down with the sex after that. It’s easy to see that the lovemaking reduced considerably, at least for Annalise, after a certain point.

4 Viola Davis’ Real Life Husband Appeared As Guest Star

In season 4, Davis’ husband, Julius Tennon, guest-starred on the show as Desmond, a man Annalise meets on a flight but is unable to actually hook up with because she thinks it is too complicated.

Desmond has a minor role and it’s unfortunate that nothing comes out of his meeting with Annalise, thus limiting his role severely. Fans would surely have loved to see more of Desmond, either as a client or as someone in Annalise’s inner circle.

3 Annalise Was An Abuse Survivor

Annalise was not just a remarkable woman who forged her path relentlessly against all odds but she was also an abuse survivor.

One of the main backstories for Annalise was that she had been sexually abused by her uncle, Clyde Harkness, as a young child. Her father Mac never took any steps to stop his brother, for which Annalise never forgave him. However, Annalise’s–or rather, Anna Mae’s–mother, Ophelia, played by veteran actress Cicely Tyson, knew about the abuse and had set their house alight with Clyde in it, to save her daughter from further abuse.

2 Annalise Never Killed Anybody

With the number of dead bodies piling up all over the place, this might come as a surprise but Annalise Keating never killed anybody herself.

Yes, the Queen, the metaphor she uses to refer to herself in the final season, hasn’t directly been involved in murder, although she did end up in jail under the suspicion that she had murdered or conspired to murder her husband. However, to be honest, she never did kill her husband and although she was complicit in covering up a string of murders after that, the crimes themselves were committed by others and never by Annalise Keating.

1 Viola Davis Loved Annalise

Davis is undoubtedly a powerhouse performer and she made Annalise one of the most empowered women on television in recent years.

After the finale had been filmed, the actress stated that playing the unpredictable character redefined her own image of herself and allowed her to step out of stereotypes. She also believed that Annalise made it possible to view certain roles in ways that wouldn’t have been imagined even a few years ago, thus creating new horizons for how roles should be perceived without boundaries.

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