Quote from Oladosun Joshua Segun on February 6, 2026, 7:24 PM

The sequence of The 'Burbs felt particularly fortunate for Keke Palmer. The mother of two-year-old Leodis plays Samira, a new mother in the Peacock series who, together with her new suburban pals, looks into the suspicious neighbor they believe is guilty of murder. The 32-year-old, who has a kid with her ex-boyfriend Darius Jackson, gained a fresh perspective on her own postpartum experience from the show, despite the fact that she isn't actually solving murders.

“It was just really awesome having some space between my reality and the characters,” Keke and her on-screen husband Jack Whitehall informed news outlets in an exclusive duo interview. “Because it actually was kind of cathartic to see it from the outside looking in of like, it is really hard to reconnect with yourself after having a baby and reconnect with your partner. And I think it's something we talk about, but we don't talk about it enough, because it really is a thing.”

Indeed, there were moments when she wished her own life had been more like the artwork.

“I think the show does a really good job exploring that in the conversations that we see Samira and Rob having were conversations I wish that I had had or that I had had,” the star of Nope clarified, adding that she and Jack, “I remember us looking at each other being like, ‘Damn, is this our life?’”

Because Jack and his partner Roxy Horner welcomed a daughter, Elsie, in September 2023, only a few months after Keke did.

“Because we've been there,” Keke continued, “Where you're nervous trying to figure out, ‘Am I being a good parent? Is this my role? And does my partner, do we have love? Did we move too fast?’ There's all this confusion that I think a lot of new parents will relate to. And even people have been a parent for years. They'll be like, ‘I remember that.’”

Keke also believes that The 'Burbs, which was based on the Tom Hanks movie of the same name from 1989, approaches these more profound ideas in a unique way.

“The show does this really cool thing that I love,” she started, “like back in the day with Norman Lear television, where we are addressing issues, but leaning in in a way that makes it fun for the audience. I think that's something that also excited me because there are a lot of stuff we're covering in the show.”

Jack, meantime, feels he could have used the experience of having twins play the couple's only kid during filming to his own life.

“That parenting is a lot easier if you have twins that you can switch out because that's what we did with this,” the comedian made a joke. “Every time one of the children got tired or was crying, then the other twin would come in. And I was like, ‘If you could do that in real life, parenting would be so much easier.’”

On February 8, all of The 'Burbs' episodes will be available in one spook-tacularly binge-worthy installment.