‘Black Widow Killer’: Melissa Joan Hart to Play Real-Life Killer in Lifetime Thriller

Melissa Joan Hart, best known for starring in Sabrina the Teenage Witch, is taking on a chilling real-life role in Lifetime’s upcoming thriller ‘Black Widow Killer: The Judy Buenoano Story’. The actress will portray Judy Buenoano, the notorious Florida woman known as the “Black Widow,” whose history of suspicious deaths and attempted murder shocked the nation.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Hart will also executive produce the thriller, which explores the investigation that exposed the disturbing truth behind Buenoano’s carefully maintained public image.

What Is ‘Black Widow Killer’ About?

Set during the 1970s and 1980s, the Lifetime thriller follows Judy Buenoano, a successful Florida salon owner and mother whose seemingly ordinary life begins to unravel after her fiancé, John Gentry, survives a car bombing.

The attempted murder raises questions about Buenoano’s past, prompting Detective Chamberlain and his partner, played by Chris Bauer (True Blood) and Cronin Cullen, to investigate a series of suspicious deaths involving people close to her.

As the detectives uncover increasingly disturbing evidence, what initially appears to be a collection of unrelated tragedies begins to suggest a calculated pattern. The investigation threatens to expose the dark reality behind Buenoano’s carefully cultivated image.

Matthew Settle (Band of Brothers) also stars as John Gentry, the fiancé whose survival helps bring the investigation into motion.

The True Story of Judy Buenoano

Known as the “Black Widow,” Judy Buenoano was convicted of murdering her husband, James Goodyear, and was also linked to the deaths of her son, Michael, and her boyfriend, Bobby Morris. She was convicted of attempting to murder Gentry through a car bombing in 1983.

Buenoano was executed in Florida in 1998, becoming the first woman executed in the state since 1848.

The Lifetime film draws on this disturbing criminal history, examining how investigators pieced together evidence surrounding the deaths and attempted murder connected to Buenoano.

Who Is Behind ‘Black Widow Killer’?

Agam Darshi directs the thriller from a screenplay by Taylor Martin. Hart serves as both the lead actress and an executive producer, bringing the story of Buenoano to the screen for Lifetime.

The film continues Lifetime’s tradition of dramatizing high-profile criminal cases, with a story centered on deception, suspicious deaths, and an investigation that ultimately exposed a deadly pattern.

When Does ‘Black Widow Killer’ Premiere?

‘Black Widow Killer: The Judy Buenoano Story’ premieres Saturday, January 23, 2027, on Lifetime.

With Melissa Joan Hart taking on a role far removed from her best-known television work, the thriller will revisit the case of a woman whose seemingly ordinary life concealed a deeply disturbing criminal history.