Selena Gomez Was Photographed Handcuffed and Covered in Fake Blood

Selena Gomez handcuffed and covered in fake blood: not exactly an image I’d expect to see all over the internet. But alas, it’s 2021, and nothing’s a surprise anymore. 

Before you freak out, no, Gomez hasn’t done anything criminal. She’s simply filming her new Hulu TV show, Only Murders in the Building, which costars Steve Martin and Martin Short.

Here’s the official synopsis of the show, per a Hulu press email: “From the minds of Steve Martin, Dan Fogelman, and John Hoffman comes a comedic murder-mystery series for the ages. Only Murders in the Building follows three strangers (Steve Martin, Martin Short, and Selena Gomez) who share an obsession with true crime and suddenly find themselves wrapped up in one. When a grisly death occurs inside their exclusive Upper West Side apartment building, the trio suspect murder and employ their precise knowledge of true crime to investigate the truth. As they record a podcast of their own to document the case, the three unravel the complex secrets of the building which stretch back years. Perhaps even more explosive are the lies they tell one another. Soon the endangered trio come to realize a killer might be living among them as they race to decipher the mounting clues before it’s too late.”

So do these photos indicate that Gomez’s character is the killer? Is she, wait for it, the murderer in the building? 

We’ll have to wait for the series to premiere to find out—a release date is TBD—but these photos have me intrigued. 

This isn’t the first time Selena Gomez has been fake-arrested in the name of art. In her 2016 music video for “Hands to Myself,” Gomez plays a stan who breaks in to a famous person’s house. When she’s caught, she gets arrested and put in the back of a cop car. 

Gomez opened up about her film and TV career to Vogue in March 2021, saying she wants to give herself a “real shot at acting.” Sounds like Only Murders in the Building will be the first of many projects to come.