Susan Delfino (née Bremmer and formerly Mayer) is a fictional character played by Teri Hatcher on the ABC television series Desperate Housewives.

While developing the series, Desperate Housewives creator Marc Cherry envisioned Susan as a girl next door and chose her to convey this image.

[9] Actors considered for the role include Courteney Cox,[10] Calista Flockhart,[10][11] Heather Locklear,[10] Mary-Louise Parker,[10][12] and Sela Ward.

[13] Cherry wrote the part with Parker in mind,[14][15] but she rejected the offer, later explaining "it just didn’t feel like I was gonna [sic] serve it as well as someone else might".

In 1992, the family moved to Wisteria Lane in Fairview, Eagle State, where Susan quickly befriends Mary Alice Young (Brenda Strong), her new neighbor.

[41] Still, she gained friends in Lynette Scavo (Felicity Huffman) in 1998, and Gabrielle Solis (Eva Longoria) in 2003 when they move to Wisteria Lane.

Susan takes an interest in Mike Delfino (James Denton), a plumber she meets at Mary Alice’s wake, who tells her he has recently moved in the neighborhood, renting the Simms’ house.

[30] Meanwhile, Susan begins investigating Mary Alice's suicide after she and her friends discover a blackmail letter while putting away her belongings, one week after her funeral.

[30] Later, Susan discovers that Mary Alice's husband, Paul (Mark Moses), had their son, Zach (Cody Kasch), committed to a youth mental institution after he broke into the Van de Kamps’ house and decorated it for Christmas,[46] Julie begins corresponding with Zach without Susan's knowledge and hides him in her room when he escapes from the institution.

[48] As her relationship with Mike progresses, Susan becomes suspicious of his past, especially when she finds a gun and large sums of money in his kitchen cabinet.

[49] Additionally, evidence connecting Mike to the recent murder of a Wisteria Lane resident, Martha Huber (Christine Estabrook), surfaces.

[61][62] When Susan learns that her health insurance will not cover the operation, Karl offers to temporarily remarry her long enough for her to be eligible for his medical benefits.

On his way to dinner, Mike gets run over by Orson Hodge (Kyle MacLachlan),[68] a dentist whom Susan had recently befriended, and is left in a coma.

[70] While waiting for him to wake up, Susan reluctantly enters a relationship with Ian Hainsworth (Dougray Scott), a British man whose wife Jane (Cecily Gambrell) has been in a coma for years.

[74] Meanwhile, Susan is suspicious of Orson, who has married Bree after a six month relationship and is alleged to have killed his missing ex-wife, Alma (Valerie Mahaffey).

[70][71] When Mike is arrested for the murder of Monique Polier (Kathleen York), Orson's former mistress, Edie breaks up with him, leaving him without bail.

[87] After a devastating tornado hits Wisteria Lane, Bree, Orson, and their newborn grandson, Benjamin, move into Susan's house temporarily.

Although Susan and Mike survive, the occupants of the other car, Lila Dash (Marie Caldare) and her daughter Paige (Madeleine Michelle Dunn), are killed.

[98] Also, Mike moves across the street from Susan and begins dating her close friend and neighbor, Katherine Mayfair (Dana Delany).

She explains the truth behind her own accident, completely unaware that Lila and Paige Dash were Dave's wife and daughter, respectively, and that he has been seeking revenge on Mike since moving to Wisteria Lane.

[111] While waiting for her to awaken, Susan learns from Andrew that Julie has dropped out of medical school, was involved with a married man (revealed to be Angie Bolen's husband Nick), and had a pregnancy scare before her attack.

[112] Later in the season, Julie's attacker is revealed to be Eddie Orlofsky (Josh Zuckerman), a local young adult who is also responsible for a handful of murders in Fairview.

[122] Susan accepts an offer from her landlady, Maxine Rosen (Lainie Kazan), to appear on a website in which she does housework in her lingerie in order to make ends meet, though she keeps her new job a secret from her friends and family.

[133] Eventually, Susan is released, Paul confesses to the murder of Martha Huber, and Felicia presumably dies in a car crash while fleeing town.

[138] Soon after, Susan begins taking an art class with renowned painter, Andre Zeller (Miguel Ferrer), and discovers that her guilt has given her a renewed artistic ability.

[142] Claudia confronts Susan and Gabrielle about Alejandro's disappearance, but agrees to stop prying after learning that he had been sexually abusing Marisa.

Tim Goodman of the San Francisco Chronicle called Hatcher's performance in the pilot episode "a huge surprise," commenting that she gives "self-effacing, disheveled and sadly hopeless Susan a spirit that makes you root for her".

[164] Hatcher won the Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Comedy Series in 2005,[165] beating out fellow cast members Marcia Cross and Felicity Huffman.

ABC and the Desperate Housewives producers faced criticism following the September 30, 2007[171] fourth season premiere in which the character of Susan made a controversial remark about Filipino doctors.

[170] Protests against the network and series were staged, prompting ABC to remove the episode from digital and online platforms in order to apply edits.