Netflix star calls ‘dark’ show ‘very different to what I was used to’

To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video

Up Next

Previous Page Next Page

As Netflix’s newest addictive dark comedy Sirens storms the charts, lead star Milly Alcock reflected on what made this show unique compared to any she had worked on before.

The ‘seductive’ five-episode series follows three very different women: the lavishly rich philanthropist Michaela Kell (Julianne Moore), her assistant and mentee Simone DeWitt (Milly Alcock) and Simone’s sister Devon (Meghann Fahy), whose life is in a downward spiral.

After Simone and Devon’s father Bruce (Bill Camp) is diagnosed with early-onset dementia, Devon embarks on a journey to Michaela’s luxury island to confront her absent sister and stumbles into a world with far more nefarious undertones.

The Molly Smith-created series, also starring Kevin Bacon and Glenn Howerton, has been sold as the ‘incisive, sexy, and darkly funny exploration of women, power, and class’.

For The House of Dragon star, her experience working with Julianne, 64, proved invaluable and their dynamic in real life naturally translated to the screen.

Get personalised updates on all things Netflix

Wake up to find news on your TV shows in your inbox every morning with Metro’s TV Newsletter.

Sign up to our newsletter and then select your show in the link we’ll send you so we can get TV news tailored to you.

The star explained: ‘I just used my own position of being a younger, less experienced actor who is enamored and inspired by this woman who’s obviously very capable and has the career that I want, and is very talented. 

There are three strong female leads on screen, and plenty of women behind the camera too (Picture: Netflix)

‘Then as their relationship changes and shifts, Julie is just such an open and accessible actor and person in general, so I didn’t feel that I had to reach, I felt that she was always there and she was always willing to play.’

She added she was inspired to see the ‘good standard’ that Julianne set while filming.

‘She was someone who just set a very good standard in always being a team player and always being there to serve the story,’ she reflected.

This powerful atmosphere was only bolstered by the fact that not only was the show led by three nuanced female characters, but the crew was also filled to the brim with female talent.

‘All of our directors [such as Nicole Cassell] were women. All of our first assistant directors were women. And it just made the process and environment of going to work every day something very different to what I was used to,’ the 25-year-old screenstar said.

Milly was able to bring her own elements to the character (Picture: Macall Polay/Netflix)

‘I’ve been fortunate to work with a lot of female directors, but to work with a fully female team in front and behind the camera just made it such a welcoming environment. We could ask questions and things would change, or things would be incorporated, and they would listen.’

She pointed to the pink megaphone Simone uses to boss everyone around in the first episode, which came about thanks to her suggestion.

‘I went up to Molly, and I was like, “I think it would be really funny if she didn’t yell [but] she had a little pink megaphone.” Things like that… it was such a joy,’ she recalled.

Julianne Moore and Milly Alcock play rich boss and devoted assistant in Sirens (Picture: Netflix)

The cult-like aesthetic and critique of the wealthy through dark comedy is an increasingly popular theme in TV, thanks to shows like The White Lotus and, most recently, Netflix’s Sirens.

And Julianne thinks she’s put her finger on exactly where this fascination with the mega-rich has come from.

‘We’re living in a time of tremendous income inequality, and it’s baffling to us. It’s certainly not something that I grew up with.

‘When I grew up as a kid in the US, it felt like it was possible to live a solid, middle-class life. There were a lot of us who had the same access to housing and education, and health care.

To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video

Up Next

Previous Page Next Page

‘Recently, and it’s happened globally too, there’s been this great disparity where so few of the population has so much of the wealth.’

The Hollywood actor explained: ‘People are intrigued and baffled and confused about why there is this vast separation. So I think that’s why we suddenly have this plethora of shows that are investigating what this is [about].’

Julianne’s character, Michaela, is an animal activist married to old money tycoon Peter Kell (Kevin), who is ‘not quite who she seems’ when you first meet her.

‘I was really attracted to the idea of playing someone whose identity and inner emotional life would slowly be revealed over the course of five episodes,’ she explained.

Shows like The White Lotus also offer a cynical take on the obscenely wealthy (Picture: HBO)

And her turbulent dynamic with Peter was made all the easier to flesh out thanks her and Kevin’s historic working relationship, after they both starred in Crazy, Stupid, Love.

‘I was so delighted that he was going to do this, because when you work with someone you automatically have shorthand, and it’s easy for you to re-engage.

‘He’s a joy to be around. He’s such a wonderful actor and a really, really wonderful person.’

She added that it was ‘interesting’ to portray a couple at a ‘precarious point in their relationship’.

At the heart of this show, however, is the relationship between the three women, who are pushing and pulling against one another in a bid to achieve their conflicting goals.

Julianne was delighted to work with Kevin again after Crazy Stupid Love (Picture: Macall Polay/Netflix)

We especially see the unhealthily co-dependent relationship Michaela and Simone have forged during their time together.

Julianne praised her House of the Dragon co-star as ‘extraordinary’ and someone who quickly mastered the American accent.

As for Milly’s connection with her own character, it was definitely ‘the most different character [she’s] played’ from herself.

‘You can be like: “I don’t really understand that set of circumstances, but I understand the feeling of being outcasted and needing to prove and needing to perform and needing to be perfect.” So I could relate to that,’ she said.

One thing she couldn’t relate to, however, was the sibling dynamic between Simone and Devon.

‘Me and Meghann both don’t have sisters, so we would go talk to Molly like “how do sisters behave with one another?” and we found it with each other.

‘There’s one scene at the end in episode five that was very, very difficult to shoot because I think it was mine and Meghann’s last day together. We didn’t have to act. We were both just so choked up about it,’ she teased.

To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video

Up Next

Previous Page Next Page

And Milly was not the only person who tried to bring a personal nuance to the script.

Bill brought ‘tremendous curiosity’ and research when approaching Bruce’s diagnosis.

‘It’s so individual as to how it manifests itself in that particular person. So I took what Molly had written and applied some of my own experience with friends and family and [what] I observed when visiting people with that condition at different levels, because it’s a progressive thing,’ the Presumed Innocent star said.

‘I can remember having a conversation with Felix, actually, in one particular scene. And all he said was, “be honest” and that is always, always, always gonna work.’

Felix Solis, who played Jose, the manager of Cliff House, spoke about how impactful Bruce’s early-onset dementia storyline was for him, as someone whose mother experienced the disease.

‘The magically beautiful irony of it is that the ailment which Bill was portraying is one that actually triggers the person’s curiosity. They ask a lot of questions, because my mother passed of that ailment, and she was so curious and asked so many questions throughout the progression of the disease.

‘It’s just magically ironic that is actually what he was doing as well.’

Sirens is available to stream on Netflix now.

This article was originally published on May 22, 2025.

Got a story?

If you’ve got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the Metro.co.uk entertainment team by emailing us [email protected], calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we’d love to hear from you.