Spoiler Alert: This story contains spoilers for His & Hers, now available on Netflix.
Based on Alice Feeney’s novel of the same name, His & Hers stars Tessa Thompson as Anna Andrews, opposite Jon Bernthal, who plays Detective Jack, in the six-episode limited series. The thriller centers on two estranged spouses, a detective (Bernthal) and a TV news star (Thompson), when the haunting murder of Anna’s high school friend Rachel (Jamie Tisdale) disrupts their hometown of Dahlonega, Georgia, outside Atlanta.
After being estranged from family and friends following the death of Anna and Jack’s daughter, Anna returns to work to resume her career as a newscaster, but finds herself replaced by another reporter, Lexi Jones (Rebecca Rittenhouse). However, when Anna learns of the Dahlonega stabbing, she jumps into the case in search of answers, but also seizes the chance to regain her position as anchor.
Reporting from a small town, Anna crosses paths with her husband, Jack, who has been abandoned in his grief and assigned to take on the case. Both believe the other is the prime suspect. As they work diligently to find the culprit, new murder victims appear one after another, and secrets from the past are revealed, sending shockwaves through the town. In quick succession, Helen (Poppy Liu), a member of Anna’s cram school friend group, and Jack’s sister Zoe (Marin Ireland) are also murdered.
Anna and Jack think they have solved the mystery when Anna is invited by photographer Richard (Pablo Schreiber) to his wife Lexi’s family’s lakeside home, where Anna learns that Lexi is not who she said she was. Jack’s criminal partner shoots Lexi and Richard is arrested on suspicion of murder. But despite all the misdirection, at the end of “He and She” (in a truly shocking twist), one unassuming person is revealed to be the murderer. That person is Alice (Fox), Anna’s mother. Years later, after learning of a horrific incident at Anna’s 16th birthday party in which she was gang-raped by her so-called friends, Alice decides to kill everyone who betrayed her as revenge to punish the women who hurt her daughter and caused her to run away from home.
Alice is reunited with Jack, and while she and Jack are caring for her niece Meg (Ellie Rose Sawyer), she confesses her sins in a letter to pregnant Anna.
“It was smart that it was her, and I thought there was a strong motive that it wasn’t deception or blackmail or all of the usual murder mystery motives,” showrunner and His & Hers director William Oldroyd told Variety. “It was about a mother’s love and seeing how far a mother would go to protect her daughter.”
Below, Oldroyd talks about the wildly popular series, its transformation from book to film, 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’ve been a murder mystery fan since I was a kid. When I read this, I thought I could guess who the culprit was, since I’m a discerning reader of this genre. I don’t understand! I was very happy in the end. That’s why I decided to turn this into a TV series. Because people will be surprised and that’s what you want.
How did her input shape the series during the creative process?
There are two types of writers. There are writers who say, “My books are sacred, so everything I write must be made into a movie or a series.” And there are writers who say, “This book is a book. It will always be there. Readers can go and read it at any time. You are happy to receive it and develop it further.” She was the latter.
I ended up being pretty faithful to the book, so it was great to have that freedom. It was so carefully planned that if we deviated, we would always go back to what Alice did, because she had crafted it perfectly.
Tessa Thompson is credited as executive producer. How involved was she in developing her character?
From the beginning, she provided notes throughout the writing process. She had strong opinions and was a great ally. She has great intuition. Everything she asked us to see or suggested was coming from a very good instinctive place. We heard everything she said.
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After reading this book, I realized that the race of the characters was not clearly explained in the novel. How did conversations about race factor into the casting of Anna and Alice?
Tessa had a clear idea. While filming Creed in Atlanta, she visited Dahlonega and spoke about her experience. We couldn’t ignore what it’s like for women of color in that community. As Tessa said, it’s a compelling dynamic. Raised in Dahlonega, moved to Atlanta, then returned when her mother never left.
Although the series closely followed the novel, there were some differences. The closeness between Anna and Rachel added another layer to the friendship that the series reserves for Helen and Rachel instead. How did you arrive at this change?
It’s implicit rather than explicit. hint at it. It’s all in the look when teenage Rachel presents young Anna with a Wonder Bra to try on for her birthday. Unfortunately, one of the things that was stripped away was the teen story. we did everything we could. I mean, we needed that plot point because we needed to know why Rachel gave her the Wonder Bra and took her picture. That’s essential, and the rest was hinted at in the current timeline by Zoe.
Anna’s 16th birthday ends a little differently in the series, with Catherine (Astrid Rothenberry) running away in Anna’s place after she is raped. Why take such an approach?
Alice needed a motive to kill the women. She felt stronger as she watched Katherine run away from the scene. If Catherine is the murderer, her motive is that she was invited there by Anna. she ran away. On the one hand, running away is a despicable act, but I can understand why she runs away. She was scared to death. That dastardly act was enough for Alice to decide to blame all these murders on Catherine.
She plans to kill Rachel, the ringleader. She intends to kill Helen, who was her second-in-command. She intends to kill Zoe, who was also complicit in this rape. Catherine runs. She is also a victim, but she is running away. Alice plans to kill these three women and blame it on Catherine. That’s her plan. It spins out of control in the final scene, but it felt like a clearer way to motivate Alice.
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At the beginning, Anna returns to the newsroom on leave and Katherine takes her place, although Katherine is unaware of her acquaintance, although in the novel the roles are reversed. What is the intention behind Anna being the returnee and Catherine being the replacement?
It was based on rivalry. That’s also when I wanted the series to start with Anna re-entering the world and saying to Jim, “I’m ready. I’m back. Let me do my job.” Upon arriving, she meets Lexi Jones, who replaced her. Now she has something to prove. It means “I want my job back.” That becomes the motivating factor for taking action to get her job back.
Katherine becoming Lexi Jones was also not shown in the book. What did adding that element allow you to explore about Catherine’s character that you weren’t able to do in the book?
In the book, Katherine is clearly called Cat Jones, and we felt the audience would understand that. Kat, short for Katherine, is too close. The co-showrunner (Dee Johnson) suggested calling her Katherine Alexis Kelly. When she changed her name, she took Alexis to Lexi. Later, when she married Richard, her last name became Jones. So Lexi Jones is Katherine Alexis Kelly, and that would be something that could be presented as a clue within the episode.
Catherine’s role in her sister’s death was an additional detail that was not in the novel. What did making Katherine the murderer of her sister add to her character arc?
We wanted to show that even the victim, Katherine Kelly, is not perfect. She also has a mean personality. Obviously, she didn’t want to kill her sister. The accident turned out to be a disaster, but she emptied the inhaler in a fit of anger. Second, he needed a reason to blackmail Lexi Jones. Rachel blackmails Lexi Jones with this. If it were revealed that she was responsible for her sister’s death, that would be blackmailable information that she would want to hide from the world.
It’s interesting that you say that Katherine didn’t intentionally intend to kill her, because I was thinking the opposite.
She had hoped the inhaler did not contain Ventolin, but she would not have expected her sister to have an asthma attack. His goal was to hurt his sister by emptying the inhaler, but that was the limit. It was a momentary act of indiscretion that unfortunately had a tragic end.
After all, the series focuses on Anna and Lexi’s on-board showdown, and doesn’t feature Alice much in that moment. Why was it important for you to condense that scene in that way?
When we were breaking down the script, Bill[Dubuque]was very clear that this should end by the halfway point of the final episode, and that the last 15 minutes should reveal the secret. We learned that there was a letter, and that letter was what we’ve been hearing as narration throughout the series. It’s Alice’s voice, not Anna’s.
She did all this because of her love for her daughter. In order to preserve and clarify it, we needed to strip away as much of the devastation of the showdown in the book as possible and present it as “I did it because I loved it.”
Have you ever considered having another character be the show’s killer?
No, it was always Alice who appeared in the books. Throughout the entire production process, we never once thought about anyone else. I thought it was smart that it was her, and the motive was strong and not all the usual motives of a murder mystery, like deceit or blackmail.
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In this series, Anna learns the truth of her mother’s crimes through letters, which is different from the book. Why was it important for the show to reveal that big truth to Anna?
It is important that Anna hears this information because she is about to become a mother again. The mother says, “I want you to understand what a mother’s love is.” I like how we are guided into each episode by a voiceover that seems to belong to the murderer, namely Anna. And then, as we get closer to the final episode, we hear it all again and start thinking, “Oh my god, Anna did it. She was the killer from the beginning.” Then twist it to reveal your voice. That’s not her voice. That’s where she is reading the letter.
Were there any particular scenes or character arcs in the book that were particularly difficult to translate from page to screen without losing its essence?
We had to be careful about sexual assault. We wanted to make sure that was a strong enough motive for these murders. But at the same time, we put it in Alice’s perspective, even though she was watching. Because you get to feel how horrible it was in the character’s body. There are such dark moments in the series, so we also had to balance that with some lightness. We knew we needed to make sure people had fun and were immersed in the series. That is why there is a light tone and good humor among their characters.
Which characters do you feel are most worth exploring if the series continues?
I love Richard. I would love to see a spin-off where he is in prison. It’s one of many great characters. But I think this entire series revolves around Jack, Anna, and Meg having a baby.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
