(This story contains major spoilers from the season finale.) sweet pea.)

starzblack comedy drama sweet pea It is based on the book series of the same name by British author CJ Skuse. But the TV series he starred in Ella Purnell It’s not really an adaptation of the novels. a prequel details how protagonist Rhiannon Lewis She transforms from a docile administrative assistant who feels invisible to a calculating reporter who puts her job to good use. Newspaper When his pent-up anger and grief leave a trail of murder victims, he heads to the newspaper to drag his co-workers and law enforcement after him.

“In the book, he really is a full-fledged serial killer,” says writer and executive producer Kirstie Swain. Hollywood Reporter in the conversation below. “You can’t see any development on this, he has (already) done this before. We wanted to tell the story of what brought him to this point, what pushed him to the edge of the cliff. What would happen if there was Dawn in the UK? Office – but if Pam Office Was he angry because he was tired of being ignored?

The answer to this question is to kill; but only the truly bad guys deserve it. At least that’s how Rhiannon justified the three murders she committed in the first five episodes of the series. But when AJ (Calam Lynch), Rhiannon’s co-worker and the only character who has actually seen her throughout the series, becomes her fourth victim in the shocking season finale, it unlocks a new aspect of Rhiannon’s identity that she will now have to deal with. with – should the show go on?

“I think that’s the part where Rhiannon is a little scared,” Swain explains. “None of the killings up to that point had cost him anything. They all helped her feel better about herself and her life, blossom, grow, and succeed. We needed one of these murders to really cost him.

Below, Swain breaks down Rhiannon’s origin story, the changes made to the characters in Skuse’s book, and the critical response to season one while looking at what the future might hold.

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How did you approach the adaptation and what were the biggest changes between the book and the series?

It was a really long process. It kind of coincided with Covid-19, so that’s what caused it to last so long. I started reading the book and then I put the book aside and just started writing, thinking about what I could take from the book, what I could leave there. We went through a lot of processes to find the right story, because it became rape revenge (conspiracy) for a while, and we moved away from that because I felt like that was done. We saw many women being sexually assaulted on screen and we wanted to move away from that. We got to a point where we wanted to tell his origin story because in the book he’s actually a full-fledged serial killer. You can’t see any progress in this, he’s done this before. We wanted to tell the story of what brought him to this point, what pushed him to the edge of the cliff. What would happen if there was Dawn in the UK? Office – but from Pam Office Was he angry because he was tired of being ignored?

The show really relies on viewers identifying with and sympathizing with Rhiannon. How do you think you achieved this?

We were able to see him as a weak person. I think a lot of people relate to the idea of ​​being overlooked. I definitely felt it. My partner felt it. My mother felt it. I’m sure everyone has had this experience. And to be able to tell the story of how he went from a normal person to someone extraordinary, but not in the best way, that was a gift. I hope the audience stays with him because he does some pretty questionable things. I think it makes the audience question themselves, too.

Rhiannon’s high school nemesis Julia (Nicôle Lecky) is at the root of her anxiety. She also has a sister who is less than kind to her and a female store clerk who treats her badly, but neither of them ends up being one of Rhiannon’s murder victims. Why does he only kill men?

I think the only people who encountered him at that time were men. I don’t think he was just targeting them because he was planning to do this to Julia as well. So back then, the only people who stood in her way were men. She never wanted to hate men or even hate people, only humans deserve that. It’s not men who deserve this, it’s people.

Is the character of Julia in the book and being in an abusive relationship appropriate for the book?

No. I think in the book she also had a lovely husband and children. We tried this with the kids and it was a bit like “oh my god” then you’re not really going with Rhiannon. I think once kids are involved you’re not actually on Rhiannon’s side. Julia wasn’t in my first draft. He was slowly returning. I think in the book there were many reasons why Rhiannon did what she did, but she told herself it was all Julia’s fault. And that really unlocked something for us because Julia didn’t see him, but strangely, by focusing all her attention on Julia, Rhiannon didn’t see him, and that eroded her self-worth. In the book, Julia is not there as long as she is in the series. But I wanted to tell the story of two women together, not in a catfight style, because I don’t think it is like that. It is about two women who knew each other very well, but wrongly, in their childhood, and how they get to know each other in adulthood. It was them retraining themselves, which was really kind of meaty and crazy.

Marina (Leah Harvey) is another interesting character. Can you talk about how the fourth episode begins with Rhiannon as the introductory narrator talking about people she wants to kill, as is usually the case??

The split POV thing was something we worked on throughout the development process, because it started out as a single protagonist POV for the entire show. But then I felt like, wouldn’t it be interesting to look at Marina’s perspective and see Rhiannon the way she couldn’t see herself? The idea of ​​an unreliable narrator. He tells himself: I’m doing this because people deserve it, they can’t escape it. But then Marina said: You are breaking the law. It doesn’t matter if they deserve it or not, they may have deserved it, but you can’t just go and kill them. So it’s a cat-and-mouse kind of thing in a different way because I was very conscious of the cat-and-mouse idea of ​​the characters. Killing Eve. You don’t want to be derivative, so do it in a new way.

I thought the shared experience of both being ignored would make Marina tolerant of Rhiannon, but she seems even more determined to make her pay for her crimes because of it.

I think he thinks Rhiannon is the one who got away. There’s an element of Marina that doesn’t feel seen and underestimated by Rhiannon, which is another nail in the coffin. It’s sort of a retelling of her relationship with Detective Inspector Diana.

AJ is the only one who naively stayed in Rhiannon’s corner until the very end. What does it say about her and what she has become when she stabs him in the finale?

I think the part where Rhiannon is a little scared does that. Up to that point, none of the kills had really cost him anything. They all helped her feel better about herself and her life, blossom, grow, and succeed. We needed one of these kills to really cost him. I’m afraid that’s why it was AJ. I get so many messages about it. I am sad! He’s a very nice character. It was really difficult to make a movie for everyone. The prop master has theories on how to bring it back if there is a second season. It really affected people. So that part of him was awakened, and we wanted to give the feeling that it wasn’t going anywhere. Even though it pushes you down, it’s here. “I won’t do this anymore,” he said, but he couldn’t keep the beast; he is a monster.

The murders are pretty revealing. What conversations did you have about how you wanted to approach these scenes?

Director Ella Jones had this vision of what the film would look like from the beginning, and we thought it should be uncensored because female violence on screen is something that is often avoided. If a man is committing the murder, you won’t be able to see the graphic nature of what you’re doing. So every time he did these really despicable things we didn’t want to just put the camera down. We wanted the audience to say, “Wow, this is really disturbing.” Because it’s disturbing, and I think because you can get into his mind and feel quite empathetic, quite sympathetic to him, I think you have to be shocked in those moments.

We also talked a lot Barry And fargo Also, in terms of scenes like these and the clear feeling of it all, you don’t know whether you’re going to get sick or laugh. We always talked about that scene fargo They put a leg on a woodchipper and it’s gross, but that’s actually what you would do if you were trying to get rid of a dead body. So the stabbing in the neck at the beginning of chapter one, that’s what’s going to happen. And I wrote a lot of that in the script as well, in terms of detail, especially that scene, and I think, quite viscerally, seeing all the blood and stuff, like there were real-life consequences. from doing such a thing. It’s not clinical, it’s very complicated and you have to live with the consequences.

How much of the book series have you covered in the series so far?

So season one is almost like a prequel to the book. So there’s a lot more to come. Great character, what a gift, plus so much source material.

Have you already written a second or later season?

No, no, no, not yet. I don’t know if I can talk about it.

There were mixed reactions to the series from critics and viewers. Have you read any comments? What do you think of the response?

The response was amazing.. I think if everything goes well, you can’t please everyone, right? So I try to ignore the not-so-nice ones and keep re-reading the nice ones (laughing). Everyone has an opinion, right? It’s a pretty good show to have an opinion on because it’s about really disturbing things. But it’s really surprising that people watch this. That’s all you hope for. You just hope that people will watch your show, enjoy it, be interested in it, and maybe think about it.

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sweet pea currently airing all episodes starz APPLICATION. To read TRInterview with Ella Purnell.