“We had access to all of the court documents during the trial, which included all the texts between Michelle [Carter] and Conrad [Roy III], and that, I think, was the most illuminating aspect of the development of the show and the development of the characters,” The Girl from Plainville co-showrunner and executive producer Liz Hannah revealed during a TCA press conference for the Hulu original series. Based on the true-story and an Esquire article of the same name by Jesse Barron, the series tells the story of the “texting suicide” case that shocked the world.
(Steve Dietl/Hulu)
“I had a lot of research to pull from in creating Michelle, but, at the same time, we don’t know everything and I think that’s what this show is hopefully going to do best is look deeper into those headlines and put ourself in those characters’ positions,” Elle Fanning shared, who stars as Michelle Carter. The actress was attracted to the project because of its themes on the addictive nature of texting and social media, and the instant gratification that can come from it. “It was definitely a big challenge to balance, wanting to be sensitive and feeling a responsibility of playing real people, but at the same time having to create a character that is all of our own and feeling these emotions from a truthful place. You try to create that and there’s a lot involved.”
“Conrad and I graduated high school in the same year, so I actually was around the same age as when all this was unfolding,” explained Colton Ryan, who plays Conrad Roy III, who goes by the nickname Coco. The actor wasn’t as tuned into the case as it was happening, but when he got the role, he found that everyone in his life was very interested to know more. “The reflexive response, the opinionated response was always just so immediate. And I just found that probably to be part of the passion that just inspired me and I think a lot of the cast was people really have a lot of feelings about this, even with the limited understanding of what it was. And I think that's what really made it feel worthwhile the whole time and warranted to just go deeper.”
“When Patrick [Macmanus] and Liz [Hannah] reached out to me, I delved much deeper into it,” Chloë Sevigny said of her decision to take the part of Coco’s mother Lynn Roy. “This was a real opportunity to examine grief through Lynn and forgiveness and finding peace, and I just thought there was so much there to the character and what Lynn went through. So originally seeing her being interviewed, the strength that she showed and I just thought she was someone I really wanted to play and I really wanted to help tell her story and bring awareness to the case.”
“We did have the opportunity to talk with Lynn Roy several times which was an extraordinary experience for all of us involved to be able to actually have the opportunity to get into what her headspace was, not just then but today was extraordinarily valuable and appreciated by all of us,” co-showrunner and executive producer Patrick Macmanus revealed. “The Carter family as a whole throughout the course of the entire case avoided the media, and understandably so, quite frankly, so we did not have the opportunity to be able to discuss this with them. But because of just the sheer number of texts and interviews and depositions that we had, we were able to really paint a pretty clear picture of what was happening within each of these families at that time.”
“We covered seven years in this, so it's 2012-2019,” Liz Hannah shared about the full scope of the story in The Girl from Plainville. This presented unique challenges for both Elle Fanning and Chloë Sevigny, who carry much of the story. “There’s a lot that wasn’t expressed in the media. I think the media has a tendency to vilify young women and that was something that absolutely happened with Michelle Carter, right or wrong. And so we felt that we had an opportunity to explore more than just the circus of that.”
The first three episodes of The Girl from Plainville are now streaming on Hulu, with new episodes releasing on Tuesdays through May 3rd.