The Better Sister is a new thriller based on the hit book by Alafair Burke. In it, Chloe and Nicky, two estranged sisters, are brought back together after the murder of Chloe’s husband Adam. As Adam’s death is investigated, family secrets threaten to tear apart the budding, yet tenuous bond, that the two sisters have established in the wake of the tragedy. Chloe is played by Jessica Biel, and Nicky is played by Elizabeth Banks.

But, as The Better Sister trailer promises, the story is brought to life by a number of other talented actors as well. The series also features Corey Stoll (House of Cards, Ant-Man), Kim Dickens (Deadwood, Gone Girl), Bobby Naderi (The Beekeeper), and Lorraine Toussaint (Selma, Orange is the New Black). Dickens and Naderi play Detective Nancy Guidry and her partner Matt Bowen, while Toussaint plays a prominent New York publisher and Stoll portrays Chloe’s murdered husband Adam Mcintosh.

ScreenRant’s Joe Deckelmeier interviewed The Better Sister’s Corey Stoll, Kim Dickens, Bobby Naderi, and Lorraine Toussaint about their work on the thriller series. The actors discussed the personalities and flaws of their characters, and how they collaborated with each other and the series’ showrunners Olivia Milch and Regina Corrado to get the tone right. Plus, Stoll described what it was like to play a character who is mostly explored through flashbacks.

The Better Sister’s Police & Professionals, Explained

Cast Reflect On “Exquisite Writing & Well-Drawn Characters On The Page”

The rich world of The Better Sister is fleshed out thanks to the people in Nicky and Chloe’s lives, such as Chloe’s boss and mentor Catherine Lancaster. “She’s elegant, calculating–the queen maker,” Lorraine Toussaint, who plays Catherine, said, adding, “she’s also vulnerable, and petty, and vindictive. She’s maternal, she’s predatorial, she’s very complex … and as a woman of color, she sort of embodies so many different women in my past and my family, [and] in my friendships. She really is a force to be reckoned with.”

“I come from Amazonian women, and so I gravitate toward those roles, and I’m familiar with the terrain.”

As tough as Catherine is, Toussaint also said that “she genuinely loves Chloe. That’s her Achilles heel.” Through her exploration of how Catherine loves Chloe, Toussaint discovered that “she loves very possessively, [she’s] very protective, and she’s got an agenda for Chloe … and anyone that gets in the way of her plans for Chloe and her grooming of Chloe has to go. And Catherine certainly is a formidable enemy. I wouldn't want her on my bad side.”

While Catherine attends to Chloe’s professional life in The Better Sister, Kim Dickens’ Detective Nancy Guidry and Bobby Naderi’s Matt Bowen search for her husband’s killer. Dickens revealed she was attracted to the role of Nancy because “she was a firecracker and a troublemaker,” adding, “I loved her. I thought she was completely complicated and three-dimensional. I love that she really loves the job … and loves the hunt, in a good way. She wants to solve the crime and find the perpetrator.”

“It’s the exquisite writing and well-drawn characters on the page.”

Bobby Naderi’s Matt acts as something of a foil for Nancy, which Naderi enjoyed. “I thought it was really fun actually–the unbalance, not knowing, mes, and trying to prove [something] and going the wrong way. Or, having an instinct and acting on it, and getting the good or the bad. I thought all that was great, and I thought it was a great character next to Kim’s character, which made it fun to play.”

About building the Matt-Nancy relationship, Dickens said, “It’s a testament to the producers and the casting directors, imagining us based on our work and experience that we would sort of be a nice salt and pepper (a nickname the duo was actually called).”

How Corey Stoll Brought Chloe’s Murdered Husband To Life

“That Conflict, That Anxiety, And That Relationship Is Coming From A Place Of Love”

The death of Adam McIntosh is key to the whole story of The Better Sister. The catch is, Corey Stoll had to flesh out his character even though Adam wasn’t an active participant in the show’s present-day story. “When you shoot any TV series, it’s out of order,” Stoll said, “But this was that times 10.”

“You could be, in the morning, shooting something that’s 20 years ago, and then shoot something that’s right before his death scene in the afternoon.”

“It’s all completely scrambled,” Stoll continued, “and in that circumstance, you just hold on that much more tightly to the script. We were lucky that this was a very well-thought-out script, both in of the plot points and following the mystery, but also in of the emotional reality and the relationship between these characters.”

Stoll also praised the showrunners, saying, “they were so completely open to collaboration. If something didn’t seem quite right, or if we felt we were showing our hand too much … there was no fight. If we had a good idea, they were a hundred percent for it.”

Not only did Stoll have to introduce Adam to audiences, but he also had to establish the dynamic Adam had with his son, Ethan. Maxwell Acee Donovan plays Ethan in the show, and earned high praise from his co-star: “I think 95% of directing is casting, and they really found the perfect guy to play Ethan,” Stoll said, continuing, “[He’s] soulful, and he’s really incapable of giving a false note. And when you’re working with him, it’s impossible not to feel this sense of care and wanting to take care of him.”

“[It] made my role as somebody who has this very contentious relationship with him that much more complex, because that conflict, that anxiety, and that relationship is coming from a place of love. It’s coming from a place of care, but it’s misapplied.”

How The Better Sister’s Team Set The Actors Up For Success

“I Was Blown Away By The Whole Team”

Bobby Naderi and Kim Dickens also shared their experiences working with The Better Sister’s showrunners. “I was blown away by the whole team,” Naderi said about Olivia Milch and Regina Corrado, continuing, “they are incredible, incredible human beings and amazing artists, and I felt, every time they would speak to me, that it was about me. And it’s not. It’s about an ensemble, it’s about the sisters, but the level of care they give each person on set, no matter if you’re an actor or someone else… that, I am eternally grateful for.”

“We worked really hard on the show, but we loved the work.”

For Dickens, the experience felt like a family affair. “I come from Deadwood, where Olivia Milch is David’s third child, and Elizabeth Milch is also writing on the show, and Regina Corrado worked on Deadwood with us [too]. So, there was a familial element for us that grounded our ways of working. The level of writing, to me, was perfection.”

“Some of the writing,” Dickens added, “[will] be a little reminiscent of Deadwood. I think some of the phrasing and the way some of the characters speak–and it was so well done that there was not a lot of riffing on it. And [the writers] were always on set. If something did need to be nuanced or changed, or if something got improvised, they would grab it and fit it in. It’s incredible working with them. They’re such talents and they’re just so laid back. They’re so talented and fun and open.”

Also check out our interview with Elizabeth Banks and Jessica Biel.

The Better Sister will be out on Prime Video on May 29.

Source: Screen Rant Plus