SPOILER ALERT: This article contains major spoilers from the Season 1 finale and Season 2 premiere of “Bad Sisters,” now streaming on Apple TV+.
“Bad Sisters” was never supposed to return for a second season. The Sharon Horgan-penned thriller, an adaptation of a Belgian limited series about a group of sisters who attempt to murder their abusive brother-in-law, didn’t obviously lend itself to a returning format. But the chemistry among the Garvey sisters in the Apple TV+ version — played by Horgan (as Eve), Sarah Greene (as Bibi), Eva Birthistle (as Ursula), Eve Hewson (as Becka) and Anne-Marie Duff (as the abused Grace) — left audiences begging for more.
Horgan, who has written and starred in shows such as “Catastrophe” and “Pulling” (as well as appearing opposite Nicolas Cage in 2022 feature “The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent”), admits she had a “germ” of an idea for where the story might go while shooting Season 1, although by the time she got into the Season 2 writers’ room — at Apple’s request following the success of the first season — it “couldn’t have been any more different,” she says. “But I feel [it was] in a way more in line with what I do naturally, because it was less of a crazy formula about attempted murders, and more emotional. More about their relationships — and, of course, the fallout from what happens in Season 1.”
In Season 1, as fans will recall, it turned out that while each of the Garveys had attempted to murder JP (nicknamed “the Prick,” and played by Claes Bang) in order to save Grace from further abuse, it was Grace herself who dealt the fatal blow. But as viewers will now find out in Season 2, Grace’s fresh start is cut tragically short after she winds up dead in a car crash.
As the Garveys — and the audience — process Grace’s shocking death, Horgan and the rest of the cast, plus lead director Dearbhla Walsh, talked to Variety about how it affected them on and off the screen and how the story will reverberate through the rest of the season.
Grace’s death comes as a real surprise, particularly since it’s so early in the season. Sharon, how certain were you about killing her off?
Sharon Horgan: There was a while where we were like, “Can we [continue] the tone of the show having lost Grace?” Because the tone of the show is a fine balance between comedy, tragedy, drama, thriller, farce-y at times. Once we figured out tonally that we could handle it, we didn’t question it. We knew it would be kind of shocking and fucking awful, but I did think it was important to show the extent of the damage that can happen [in an abusive relationship].
Dearbhla Walsh: It was important that it never felt like a gimmick. And Episode 3 [which drops on Nov. 20] was a really challenging one, to have an authentic funeral and then to transition across.
Anne-Marie, did Sharon warn you about Grace’s fate before you read the script?
Anne-Marie Duff: I’d known a good while before the scripts arrived, so I didn’t have the soap opera surprise. I think it’s a brilliant idea, because it shakes things up, and it changes the landscape, and suddenly there’s a huge amount of freedom in that. And also, it was such a repeated question, “What happens to Grace in Season 2?” And it removes that from the conversation.
Eva Birthistle: Also, I think what happens with the audience, then, is they think, “Well, if that’s possible, if that’s going to happen, then it could be anything that [can] happen.” And it really keeps everybody on the back foot, and that makes for very enjoyable watching.
Anne-Marie, do you see Grace’s death as almost Shakespearean, in the sense that she ultimately had to be punished for committing a murder?
Duff: Yeah, there’s something about that. It’s like that scene, when she confesses [about murdering JP] to Owen, I always think of it being like the scene in “Tess of the D’Urbervilles” when she says about the baby and the rape and everything, and you understand the necessity to testify and tell your truth. But at what cost?
Episode 3 shows Grace’s funeral. Did you stick around to watch it being shot?
Duff: No. And purposely I didn’t read any of the scripts post. I didn’t read a single other scene, so I’ve watched it as you’ve watched it.
What did it feel like once Anne-Marie was absent from set, was there a sense of grief from that as well?
Horgan: Because we were all doing scenes together and then suddenly she was gone, I have to say it was emotional. The whole filming, the whole series, felt like we were on an emotional rollercoaster.
Eve Hewson: It was a little strange when we were doing all of our scenes, because we knew it would be the last time the five of us would be together. Even the crew didn’t know, because Sharon and Dearbhla kept it under wraps. They wanted the car crash to only have a certain amount of crew there, so we could really keep it tight. I think Dearvlah accidentally let it slip one day on set, all the crew were like, “What are you talking about? What do you mean it’s Anne-Marie’s last day?” So, yeah, that was funny.
The funeral was shot in a real church with a real coffin in the room. What was the atmosphere like on set that day?
Birthistle: You automatically have a kind of a physical reaction, almost, to it. It’s something that we’ve all experienced and it puts you into a certain frame of mind and a tone takes over, a shift in tone, when that happens.
What was it like shooting the funeral as the sisters veer between laughter and sobbing?
Hewson: I was like, this is so truly Irish, and it’s so how we grieve as humans. We’re not ones to wallow in self-pity and we much more use humor to get through our pain. And I think [Horgan] nailed that so beautifully that I feel when people watch it it’ll remind them of things. It reminded me of my granddad’s funeral. I remember we were all driving in the car, and I was just laughing, and I was like, “I don’t even feel anything! I don’t even feel sad, I’m fine!” And I was really hyper and really giddy, and then I had to get up and do a reading and the minute I got up there I burst into tears. Sharon really shows that side of humanity where you’re so stressed that you feel 500 emotions in the space of 10 minutes.
These interviews have been condensed and edited for space and clarity.
