If you haven’t yet watched Peacock’s Teacup, which just aired its season finale last week, and you’re a horror fan who appreciates Stephen King-esque suspense and storytelling, you should heed the advice of the man himself. “Teacup: If you like From or Lost, I think you’ll like this,” the acclaimed author recently tweeted. “It’s strange, creepy, claustrophobic and scary. Beware the Gas Mask Man. Short episodes. All killer, no filler.”
At the center of the series, which is based on the book Stinger by Robert McCammon, is Yvonne Strahovski. She plays Maggie Chenoweth, a veterinarian in rural Georgia who must cope with a series of increasingly bizarre (and terrifying) occurrences. Her horses are getting spooked, her son disappears into the woods and returns acting strange, and there’s a mysterious man in a gas mask wandering around drawing a blue line around her family’s property and warning them not to cross it. (In the interest of not spoiling anything, we won’t go into further detail than that, but let’s just say those who cross the line meet an incredibly gruesome fate.)
That alone should be enough to win over genre fans, but Teacup is also rooted in good old-fashioned family drama, as Maggie finds out her husband James (Scott Speedman) has been cheating on her with their neighbor. We caught up with Strahovski to talk about what it was like stepping into the producer’s chair on Teacup, saying goodbye to The Handmaid’s Tale and more.
InsideHook: Tell me a little bit about what initially drew you to this role and this story in Teacup.
Yvonne Strahovski: You know, when I sat down with Ian [McCulloch], our showrunner, I really enjoyed him as a person and as a creative. And I liked that he wanted to come at this project from the angle of the family and the relationships and the characters there. That is what the selling point was for me. I loved the character, Maggie, her emotional journey, starting off as this mom who was just a regular mama bear and then turns into this warrior version of herself that she never thought she would have to be and kind of doing the unthinkable.
You also worked as a producer on this. What was that experience like and what made you want to work on this project in that capacity?
This project came to me, so I wasn’t there from the conception of it, like I will be from the other projects that I’m going to be producing in the future. So this is more just having a creative voice and the build-up to the final episodes where we knew what was going to happen and just toeing that line between the family drama of it all in this horror genre setting, and making sure we billed it appropriately and sell the ending appropriately and believably — because it is quite far-fetched and fantastical — and how we ground it. That was my interest in it, at peeling back and looking at the storyline overall.
Stephen King is a fan of the show. He recently tweeted his praise for it, calling it “all killer, no filler.” What’s your reaction to getting that stamp of approval from someone who’s obviously so associated with this genre?
Yeah, that’s pretty cool. [laughter] I think everyone was pretty tickled to see that one come out. He’s obviously an icon in the space. So yeah, that’s fantastic.
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This month’s highlights include a “Gladiator” sequel, a highly anticipated oil boom drama and a new Father John Misty albumYou mentioned other projects that you’re going to be producing. Is there anything that you’re at liberty to discuss at the moment? Or is it all sort of under wraps?
One thing I can talk about: I’m going to be executive producing a project that’s going by the title of A Woman of Intelligence right now, based on the book by Karin Tanabe. I’ve partnered with Nina Tassler and Joan Boorstein for that, and we’re in development right now and we’re really super excited. The book is a very rich, dense story full of incredible characters and very topical themes. That’s probably all I can say.
Going back to Teacup, one thing I loved about the show is the way that it uses practical effects rather than any kind of CGI. And I’m curious, from an acting perspective, does that change things for you at all when you’re working, when you’re seeing these things in front of you rather than just having the effects added in later?
Yeah, I think it’s helpful when you finally can see something in person. Otherwise you’re either going off of nothing or you’re going off of a picture and using your imagination, which of course I’m also well-versed at doing. I guess it’s at this point [where] we’re doing it for so long that it’s really either/or, but it is really special to [work with practical effects]. In this particular instance, it was special to see what they had come up with in the physical form, because I remember reading it on paper and thinking, “Gosh, I don’t know how you’re going to do that. I don’t even know how you picture what is written on the page.” And I thought that the sculpture — I’m gonna call it a prosthetic sculpture — was like a serious work of art, when we see the first character go over the line and what it does to her body. It was really incredible what they managed to do.
I know you’re also currently in the process of filming the final season of The Handmaid’s Tale. I’m sure there’s not much that you can discuss about that plot-wise, but what are your feelings about going into this final season and finally saying goodbye to this character?
I am feeling really great about it. I know it’s an ending, and I know endings are sad, and it will be, I’m sure. I’m probably going to cry for a long time in the lead-up to saying goodbye. But I also am really ready to say goodbye to this character. I love her so much. She has brought me so much — the work, the arc that this woman has had and will continue to have. I’m so excited for season six in particular. So it’s just been so incredible. I can’t say enough about the opportunity that I’ve had with Serena Joy Waterford. But also she’s a trip, you know? She’s a lot of bad energy at the same time. And I don’t take any of that home, obviously. I have my own life at home. But at the same time, you do sort of feel there is something that hangs on. It will be nice to say goodbye to that piece of it.
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