You know that feeling when you are house-hunting and you discover what seems to be the perfect place? It just clicks, and then you decide to ignore all red flags because the dream house will certainly compensate for its drawbacks. Well, then you, just like Gugu Mbatha-Raw in the new HBO Max miniseries The Girl Before, have probably learned cruel lessons about real estate. The story follows a girl who finds an ultra-minimalist and incredibly modern house, but in order to rent it she has to accept a list of strange demands from its architect owner. To get viewers hyped for the weirdness, HBO Max has released a trailer for the series.

Jane (Mbatha-Raw) discovers that Edward (David Oyelowo), the architect who designed the house, interviews all possible tenants personally. He reveals the house has an impressive A.I. software — a "housekeeping system" — that collects data from whoever is living in it to improve everyday life, allegedly. Jane discovers that she bears a strange connection to former inhabitants of the house, and figuring out that connection might put her life in danger.

The trailer reveals a luxury home that is hard not to fall for, with wide spaces and bright rooms, and a minimalist decoration that would make Marie Kondo extremely proud. The Girl Before in the title refers to the discovery that Edward might be obsessed with Jane look-alikes, but what happened with the former tenants… we’ll have to watch to find out.

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Image via HBO Max

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First announced back in March 2021, The Girl Before is based on the worldwide best-selling novel by author JP Delaney, which has sold over a million copies ever since its release in 2016. Delaney himself adapted the book along with Marissa Lestrade (Deep State, Casualty), who co-writes the miniseries. Emmy nominee Lisa Brühlman (Servant, Killing Eve) directs and executive produces. Aside from Mbatha-Raw and Oyelowo, the cast also features Jessica Plummer, Ben Hardy, Rakhee Thakrar, Amanda Drew, and Ian Conningham.

HBO Max premieres all episodes of The Girl Before on February 10. Check out the new trailer below:

And check out the series' official synopsis here:

The Girl Before tells the story of Jane (Gugu Mbatha-Raw), who gets the chance to move into a beautiful, ultra-minimalist house designed by architect (David Oyelowo) --the one catch being that occupants have to abide by his list of rules. When Jane makes the shocking discovery that her predecessor Emma died in the house, she begins to question if her fate will be the same as the girl before…