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SPOILER ALERT: This story contains spoilers from “His & Hers,” now streaming on Netflix.
Based on Alice Feeney’s novel of the same name, Tessa Thompson leads “His & Hers” as the character Anna Andrews, starring opposite Jon Bernthal, who portrays Detective Jack in the six-episode limited series. The thriller revolves around two estranged spouses — a detective (Bernthal) and a TV news star (Thompson) — who reunite when the haunting murder of Anna’s high-school friend Rachel (Jamie Tisdale) disturbs their hometown of Dahlonega, Georgia, a suburb of Atlanta.
After taking time away from her family and friends following the death of her and Jack’s daughter, Anna returns to work to resume her career as a news anchor, only to find she’s been replaced by another reporter, Lexy Jones (Rebecca Rittenhouse). However, when Anna learns about the stabbing in Dahlonega, she jumps on the case in search of answers — but also sees an opportunity to reclaim her anchor seat.
Reporting from the small town, Anna crosses paths with her husband Jack, whom she’s basically abandoned in her grief, and who’s been assigned to the case — both believe the other is a prime suspect. As they feverishly work to find the culprit, past secrets are revealed as new murder victims pop up, sending shockwaves throughout the town. In quick succession, Helen (Poppy Liu) and Jack’s sister Zoe (Marin Ireland), also members of Anna’s prep school friend group, are murdered too.
Anna and Jack think the mystery is solved after Anna is lured by her cameraman Richard (Pablo Schreiber) to his wife Lexy’s family lake house where Anna discovers that Lexy isn’t who she said she was — Jack’s detective partner shoots and kills Lexy, and Richard is arrested for the murders. But despite all the misdirects, at the end of “His & Hers” (in a truly shocking twist), one unassuming figure turns out to be the murderer: Anna’s mother, Alice (Fox). After Alice finds out, years afterward, about a horrific incident that took place at Anna’s 16th birthday party — she’s gang-raped, a set up by her so-called friends — she decides to kill everyone who had betrayed Anna in an act of revenge to punish the women who’d hurt her daughter, and had caused her to flee from home.
In a letter, Alice confesses her crimes to Anna, who’s reunited with Jack, and is pregnant while she and Jack also taking care of his niece, Meg (Ellie Rose Sawyer).
“It was clever that it was her, and I thought the motive was strong that it wasn’t about deceit or blackmail or all of the usual motives in a murder mystery,” William Oldroyd, the showrunner and a director of “His & Hers” tells Variety. “It was about a mother’s love, and seeing how far a mother would go to defend her daughter.”
Below, Oldroyd discusses the wildly explosive series, book-to-film changes, collaborating with Feeney and more.
How familiar were you with Alice Feeney’s work before the show?
“His & Hers” was the first book of hers I read in 2020. I’m a fan of murder mysteries, and have been ever since I was a child. When I read it, I thought I could guess who the killer was because I’m quite a discerning reader of this genre. No idea! I was so pleased at the end. That’s why I thought I should make this a TV series, because people will be surprised, which is what you want.
How did her input shape the series during the production process?
You have two types of writers. You have writers who say, “My book is sacred, and you have to put everything I’ve written into the film or into the series.” Then, you have writers who say, “The book is a book. It will always exist. The reader can always go and read it. You have my blessing to take that and to develop it further.” She was the latter.
It was great having that freedom, because we ended up being quite truthful to the book. It was so carefully plotted that if we ever deviated, we would always find ourselves coming back to what Alice had done, because she’d worked it out so perfectly.
Tessa Thompson is credited as an executive producer. How involved was she in crafting her character?
From the beginning, she provided us with notes throughout the writing process. She had strong opinions, and was a great ally. She’s got great instincts. Anything she asked us to look at or suggested was coming from a very good instinctive place. We listened to everything she said.
I read the book and noticed that the race of the characters isn’t explicitly described in the novel. How did conversations around race factor into the casting of Anna and Alice?
Tessa had clear thoughts. While filming “Creed” in Atlanta, she visited Dahlonega and shared her experience. We couldn’t ignore what it’s like for a woman of color in that community. As Tessa said, it’s a compelling dynamic: growing up in Dahlonega, moving to Atlanta, then returning when your mother never left.
While the series follows the novel closely, there were a few differences. The intimacy between Anna and Rachel added another layer to their friendship that the series reserves for Helen and Rachel instead. How did you all arrive at that change?
It’s implied rather than explicit. We allude to it. It’s all in the look that teen Rachel gives to young Anna when she’s given her the Wonderbra to try on for her birthday. Unfortunately, one of the things that got stripped to the bare essentials was the teen storyline. We did what we could, which is that we needed that plot point because we needed to know why Rachel gave her the Wonderbra and took a photo of her. That was essential, and the rest was alluded to in the present timeline by Zoe.
Anna’s 16th birthday ends slightly differently in the series, with Catherine (Astrid Rotenberry) running away instead of Anna, who is raped. Why take that approach?
We needed Alice to have a motive for killing these women. It felt stronger that she saw Catherine running away from the scene. The motive for Catherine, if she was to be the killer, was that she was lured there by Anna. She escaped. In running away, an act of cowardice on one hand, I understand why she would run away. She was scared to death. That act of cowardice is enough for Alice to decide to pin all these murders on Catherine.
She’s going to kill Rachel, the ringleader. She’s going to kill Helen, who was second in command. She’s going to kill Zoe, who was equally a part of this rape. Catherine runs. She is a victim too, but she runs away. Alice is going to kill these three women, and then she’s going to pin it on Catherine. That’s her plan. It gets out of control in the final scene, but that felt like a clearer way of providing a motive for Alice.
In the very beginning, Anna returns to the newsroom after taking a leave of absence, with Catherine — who she doesn’t realize is someone she knows — having filled in for her, whereas in the novel, the roles are reversed. What was the intention behind making Anna the one returning and Catherine the one who replaced her?
It was based on rivalry. It’s also the timing we wanted the series to start with Anna re-entering the world and saying to Jim, “I’m ready. I’m back. Let me have my job.” And when she arrives, she meets Lexy Jones, who’s replaced her. Now, she has something to prove, which is, “I need my job back.” That provides a motivating factor for her actions to get her job back.
Catherine becoming Lexy Jones also wasn’t present in the book. What did adding that element allow you all to explore about Catherine’s character that the book couldn’t?
In the book, Catherine is clearly called Cat Jones, and we felt like the audience would work it out. Cat, as an abbreviation of Catherine, is too close. Our co-showrunner [Dee Johnson] suggested that she be called Catherine Alexis Kelly. When she changed her name, she took Alexis to Lexy. Then, when she married Richard, her last name was Jones. So Lexy Jones is Catherine Alexis Kelly, and that would be something that we could then present as a clue in the episode.
Catherine’s role in her sister’s death was an additional detail that wasn’t in the novel. What did making Catherine her sister’s killer add to her character arc?
We wanted to show that even the victim, Catherine Kelly, is not perfect. She also has a mean streak. Obviously, she didn’t want to kill her sister. An accident went badly wrong, but she emptied that inhaler out of spite. Secondly, we needed a reason to blackmail Lexy Jones. Rachel blackmails Lexy Jones with this. If something came out that she was responsible for her sister’s death, that’s a blackmailable piece of information that she would want to hide from the public.
It’s interesting that you say that Catherine didn’t intentionally mean to kill her, because I thought the opposite.
She wanted the inhaler not to have any Ventolin, but I don’t think she would have anticipated that her sister would have an asthma attack. The intention was to hurt her sister by emptying the inhaler, but that’s about as far as it went. It was a moment of rashness that, unfortunately, had a tragic end.
In the end, the series centers on Anna and Lexy going head-to-head in the cabin and refrains from including Alice as much in that moment. Why was it important for you all to condense that scene in that way?
When we were breaking the script down, Bill [Dubuque] was clear that this should conclude by the midpoint of the final episode, and the very last 15 minutes should be the reveal. We find out there is a letter, and the letter has been what we’ve been hearing as a voice-over throughout the series. It’s not Anna’s voice, it’s Alice’s.
The reason she’s done all this is because of the love that she has for her daughter. In order to preserve and clarify that, we needed to strip away as much as we could out of the catastrophe of the showdown that was in the book, and present that as ‘I did this because I love you.’
Was there ever any consideration of making another character the killer for the show?
No, it was always Alice in the book. Throughout the whole process of making it, we never thought of anyone else. It was clever that it was her, and I thought the motive was strong that it wasn’t about deceit or blackmail or all of the usual motives in a murder mystery.
In the series, Anna learns the truth about her mother’s crime through a letter, which is different from the book. Why was it important for the show to make that big reveal clear to Anna?
It’s important that Anna gets to hear this information as she’s about to become a mother again. Her mother says, “I want you to understand what a mother’s love is.” I like the way in which we are led into each episode with a voiceover, which we believe is the killer’s, which is Anna’s. Then, when we come to the final episode, we hear it all again and start to think, “Oh, my God, Anna did it. She was the killer all along.” Then, we can twist it and show the voice — it’s not her voice. It’s her reading a letter.
Were there any specific scenes or character arcs in the book that were particularly challenging to translate from the page to the screen without losing their essence?
We had to be delicate around the sexual assault. That was something that we wanted to make sure provided a strong enough motive for these murders. But at the same time, we put it in Alice’s point of view, even though Alice is watching it. That’s the way to do it because in the body of the character, you’re going to feel how horrendous it was. We have such dark moments like that in the series that we also needed to balance that with levity. We knew we needed to make sure that people were able to be entertained and engaged as they entered the series. That’s why there is a lighter tone and good humor between their characters.
If the series were to continue, which character feels the most worth exploring?
I love Richard. I’d like to see the spin-off where he’s in jail. That’s one of the many great characters. But I do think this whole series revolves around Jack, Anna and Meg with a baby on the way.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
English (US) ·