So she made moreBad Sisters.

Save this article to read it later.

Find this story in your accountsSaved for Latersection.

Article image

You would have to have a really good reason to bring it back, shesaid in 2022.

I would never do it just for the sake of it.

After a season ofpratfalls,break-ins, andquite a lot of grieving, the finale reveals all.

Article image

Right before her death, Grace confessed to Ian that she killed her first husband.

Lets see what Horgan has to say this time.

When you and I talked after the first-season finale, you indicated there could maybe be a season two.

Then Apple was really keen to do more.

I said to Apple, Ill do a writers room.

Would she be able to ask for help?

And would her sisters believe her?

Theyre damaged and vulnerable and open to someone taking advantage.

That old boys club contains so many bad, bad people.

The show is a good vehicle for subject matter that feels really, horribly, constantly timely.

Then the second season came along when the bad choices of bad men are impacting our lives.

Here we have a group of women who just wont put up with that.

You get excited about story all the time but then you lose confidence.

We were scared about the Grace story line.

In fact, someone suggested it and I was like no.

That didnt mean it wasnt scary.

When you were developing Angelica as a character, did you have Fiona Shaw in mind?Yeah.

You have other potentials because you bring in casting quite early and they send you lists.

Also, you dont know if youre gonna get her.

The only thing Ill correct you on is camogi stick.

Its an Irish sport called hurling, but the girls version of it is called camogi.

It is fucking dangerous.

I played it as a youngster, and my sister lost her tooth.

The fact that it ends up becoming the murder weapon is one of my favorite things.

Angelicas 100 percent the decoy villain.

In their grief, the Garvey sisters are looking for a place to be angry.

It gets out of control, and theyre paranoid and afraid.

Her explanation is, I just didnt like what he was saying about Grace.

What is it about Grace that captivates her?Theres so much we cut out that answers that.

Its here and there, you know.

She talks about how we spent hours making an unholy amount of lasagna together.

They did the whole Meals on Wheels thing.

In Grace, she found a confidante and someone who actually listened for the first time.

When women get to that age, they are invisible.

She just takes it too far.

Hes not gonna forgive the Garveys.

Its self-sacrifice that has all this terrible judgment baked into it.How funny is Fiona Shaw, though?

When we were filming it she was cracking us all up.

That wasnt in the original script?No, no.

It was just something we thought of on the day.

And oh my God, she is, like, hurling herself to the ground.

You do those takes time after time after time, and it was just no bother to her.

She got it and she was all in and she couldnt have had more of a blast.

Shes very Method, right?

But not in a Method way that you associate with Pacino or De Niro.

In episode two, she cycles up to the house and shes looking in the window.

This is post her finding out that Grace murdered her husband.

Dearbhla Walsh, who is our series director, goes, Do you think Angelicas been here before?

And Fionas like, No, I dont think shes been here before.

I dont think shes ever had so much as a cup of tea in this house.

Thats what the show does so well: escalate, escalate, escalate.

Theres stunts and theres black eyes to put on and blood to figure out.

Everything was worked out and choreographed before and rehearsed, rehearsed, rehearsed to get all those moments right.

That is the kind of stuff I love.

I find that stuff easier to write than, I dont know what youd call it traditional thriller moments.

I like the escalation of panic.

And I like hearing people say stupid things at the wrong time.

But all of it, very heavily written and plotted.

And of course a womans going to have to do it eventually.

Was that in the script?No, it wasnt.

It was a beautiful accident.

It was our second go and it just did that.

We were really disappointed with how the blood dispersed in the first one.

We were just like, Thank you to the special-effects gods.

You mentioned that you had to cut some scenes.

But oh my God, we had like a fucking 300-minute cut of that wedding.

There was this scene with Joe and Becka, you know when they wake up in the bunk bed?

Hes saying, They like me though, dont they, your sisters?

They have that little bounce and he pulls her back into bed and we cut there.

Theres this beautiful bit of dialogue between them after that.

Becka says to him you know, hes so into her Have you never had good sex before?

He has this mini-monologue where hes like.

Im the only lad from my village without an underbite.

So I got plenty of action, let me tell you that.

Then he goes into this whole spiel about what it means to be with someone youre mad about.

It was so beautiful.

It was such a moment to introduce this non-Matt man.

But you know, fuck it.

He made his presence felt you get little glimpses of him.

Hes so great and funny.

But I felt really sad about that cause they were so beautiful together.

By killing off Grace so early, you remove her from much of the season, too.

She was completely involved and loved the story line.

She also loved that, in episode eight, we get to see what happened that night.

Obviously you think its possibly Angelica on that phone, blackmailing her, but you dont know.

It used to feel kind of weird that we were all over there doing something else.

Then she watched the show and she felt the presence of Grace constantly.

I mean, shed read the scripts but hadnt realized how felt her absence was to those sisters.

I think its the same in season two.

I was really nervous about the portrayal of grief.

Two, because I wanted it to be authentic and I didnt want to brush over it.

But they couldnt be breaking down and crying all the time.

Theres so many moments where that happened organically, like in that sauna.

Having experienced grief really recently myself my dad died mid-filming of the season that is how grief works.

You still laugh with your brothers and sisters.

Narratively, it seems like a great tool in a way.

As you know, when youre grieving, youre not in your right mind all the time.Exactly, yes!

Theyve lost their minds.

Grief has fucked with their reasoning.

And the same with Ian and Eva.

Its ruined her ability to think straight.

Thats something she would never have done if she wasnt going through that.

It also struck me in the finale that its the women who help each other, ultimately.

Una, the female cop, is the one who really presses to protect the Garvey sisters from Ian.

Angelica is willing to throw herself at Gods mercy for them.Absolutely, they are looking out for each other.

I thought about Blanaid throughout my daughters were so angry with me that I did that to her.

But we gave hints of it in season one.

Theyre still a strong and protective family and nothings gonna change that.

Your daughters were mad at you?

For what specifically?For leaving Blanaid without parents.

They were really upset about that.

How did you calm them down?I didnt, really.

They didnt talk to me for a while.

I just said, Look, you just have to keep watching.

I think everything will be okay.

I mean, its never gonna beokay, but ah, theyll get over it.

You try writing a bloody series, see how you get on.

Is there room for a season three?

Because, you know, Ians not dead.

[Laughs] Thats so funny.

I felt so at peace with where they were.

I feel like its done.

What if Apples like, c’mon, Sharon, make a season three?

What would you say?

[Long pause.]

Youre not sure.I dont know, Im so tired.

I mean, thats my problem.

I thought it would be easier this time.

I was like, Ill do it again, but Im not gonna do ten episodes.

I come from the U.K. world of six half-hours.

You shoot it over seven weeks, you know?

Eight didnt make it any easier.

Somehow it was almost the same.

We were talking earlier about the perpetual timeliness of a story like this.

It is a wish fulfillment thing.

In a way, thats what I was trying to do with this.

I was trying to hold people to account and to show that good people can affect change.

There are bigger things we all need to get angry about.

Lets do that through these characters.

More Bad Sisters

Tags: