Olivia Cooke and Robin Wright said they relished the opportunity to play morally compromised characters in Prime Video’s new limited series The Girlfriend, a six-episode drama that rewinds the same events from two women’s points of view as each tries to pry the same man away from the other. (Spoilers ahead.)
The series, which alternates between Cherry (Cooke) and Laura (Wright), centers on Daniel (Laurie Davidson) and the escalating, sometimes extreme lengths his girlfriend and his mother will go to in order to protect or possess him. Producers present parallel accounts of the same incidents to underscore how neither woman is wholly innocent and how each rationalizes behavior that readers and viewers may find shocking.
Cooke, who previously played Alicent Hightower on HBO’s House of the Dragon, said playing Cherry allowed her to shed personal inhibitions and inhabit “raw” impulses she would not express in real life. "It felt good," she said, adding that both Cherry and Laura are far from how she would operate. "I think what’s great about both of these characters you see, it’s so far from how I would operate. And as myself, who operates under the guise of a lot of guilt and shame, to sort of rid myself of that and be as raw of a nerve as possible is fantastic."
Wright, whose high-profile portrayal of Claire Underwood on House of Cards remains one of her best-known roles, joins Cooke as Laura, a mother who becomes deeply involved in her adult son’s romantic life. Both actresses said playing women who cross ethical lines required trust in the character’s psychology and an acceptance of motivations the actors might not personally share.
"You have to like the character you play, no matter how evil they are," Cooke said. "You have to believe in their choices and their psychology behind why these decisions are made. Whether you’re white lying, exaggerating the truth, boldfaced lying, or doing something as horrible and deceptive that Laura does to Cherry." She said that during filming she had to fully commit to Cherry’s viewpoint; after production she found she could acknowledge multiple perspectives. "I can completely understand the two sides of the story and two versions of the story, but I think when you’re in it, I have to only believe and empathize with my character. Otherwise, it becomes a bit murky and unbelievable."
The series depicts a slippery moral slope that begins with seemingly benign curiosities — Cooke’s Cherry snooping through Laura’s belongings — and accelerates to more disturbing acts. On-screen transgressions include Cherry defiling a gallery belonging to Laura’s household and, in another moment, tampering with a wedding cake. Laura is shown escalating her intervention in Daniel’s life, at one point telling Cherry that Daniel died after a hiking accident, an act the series frames as part of Laura’s attempt to control the narrative.
Producers and the lead actors have framed the show as an exploration of loyalty, possession and the stories people tell themselves to justify harmful behavior. By presenting two subjective versions of events, The Girlfriend asks viewers to weigh conflicting testimony and to consider how empathy for a character’s interior life can coexist with dismay at their actions.
The Girlfriend is now streaming on Prime Video.