In the Peacock series The Good Daughter, sisters Samantha (Rose Byrne) and Charlotte (Meghann Fahy) reunite years after a family tragedy that forever changed their lives and the toxicity of the town they grew up in threatens to affect a new generation.
Awards Buzz spoke with the cast and creative team about the appeal of this show and the experience of making such a dark drama. Byrne shared how she felt connected to her character:
“I’m the youngest of four children, so I love sibling dynamic and the birth order. That was really fun, like that great Ram Dass quote, if you think you’re enlightened, then go spend a weekend with your parents or your family, or whatever. It feels very much in the spirit of this show, and that’s where a lot of the humor lies, which is really fun. Those scenes to me were the ones I relished the most.”
Fahy echoed the praise of the writing and character development:
“I think I really felt connected at some point to all of the characters in the show, and I think that’s something that Karin really did a great job of. There’s no character that exists in the show that is all one way or all another way. There’s so much nuance to the way these people move through the world, and some of it you disagree with and some of it you don’t, and I think that’s part of what makes the show so interesting.”
Harper Steele, who plays Lenore, was thrilled for the opportunity for her debut acting role:
“Playing a trans woman without that being the story, I thought that was unique and special, to be able to just play a human being in the world who cares about other human beings without having to talk about the issue of being trans. That was the draw, and the writing. I’m a writer and there were things in the script that I was jealous of, that I was envious of as a writer, and I was really taken by it. And so I’ve never acted before and I thought this would be a good one to try it.”
Olivia Williams, who portrays the sisters’ mother, shared the background of her coming onto the project:
“Karin wrote me an extremely well-worded letter explaining that another performance I’d given in another TV show called Manhattan had inspired her to write the novel, so the level of flattery was so high that I didn’t even need to read the script. I was like, yeah, whatever you want me to do, I’m in.”
Author and showrunner Karin Slaughter compared this show to her other two TV adaptations, Pieces of Her and Will Trent:
“I love the shows. I think they’re amazing, and I think that there’s a lot of Will Trent in this, because there’s a good sense of humor. There’s a sense of time and place. Both of them are filmed in Georgia, so you have a real idea of what the city looks like what the town looks like. That’s a very important part of telling a story, to have this sense of place. So I’m very proud that we were able to film it in Georgia. I think if you like the tone of the books to be that tend to be a little darker that this is definitely something that you’ll enjoy. I love thrillers. I love writing really shocking twisty turns, but at the heart of me, I am a writer who writes about relationships, and this is a story of a family that was torn apart and how they are put back together.”
Director Steph Green spoke to the challenge of filming two time periods in one show:
“Oh, I love that about the book and the scripts. I love the way they work with perspective and timeline, and, as a director, I just couldn’t stop thinking, how would I shoot this? I was so excited. I’ve been drawn historically to content like that, even with Watchmen and my short, where we move through time, we go back. It’s one of the great joys of this medium and this cinematic storytelling that Karin does, that we get to jump through time. I think you may notice in the beginning that the girls are set in a warmer environment. It’s a little cooler in present day. Everything changes and shifts with the progression of the narrative. So we’re telling a color story, we’re telling a light story, and we get to talk about how we move the camera differently. We use different lenses and different perspectives, so it’s really engaging as a filmmaker to make all these choices with the different artists involved.”
Executive producer Bruna Papandrea gushed about how much she loves the show and how it fits the mold of the Made Up Stories brand:
“Oh my god, I’m going to get myself into so much trouble, because you never want to make anyone feel like they’re your favorite child. But I have said publicly, I think this is one of the best things that I’ve been involved in. I watch everything. I’m a voracious watcher, and I love this show in my bones. I think that if you loved anything I’ve ever made, you’re going to go nuts for this. For me, it’s really that simple. I love it. Cannot get enough of this show.”
All six episodes of The Good Daughter are now streaming on Peacock.
