Shining Girls Star Madeline Brewer Reflects on the Inspiring Experience With the Apple TV+ Series

Over the course of four seasons, the character Janine has become a fan-favorite figure on The Handmaid’s Tale, as she has not only proven her resiliency in the face of horrendous abuse and trauma, but actor Madeline Brewer has also managed to convey the experiences in which Janine has a harder time keeping her composure, becoming one of the most relatable components of the unsettling narrative. Of course, Elisabeth Moss’ performance in the Hulu series is another selling point of that series, which she is also demonstrating in the new Apple TV+ horror series Shining Girls. Much to the delight of both performers, Brewer has dropped by the latest episode of Shining Girls, offering audiences a familiar reunion between the actors while also having the opportunity to convey an all-new dynamic. Brewer’s episode of Shining Girls is out now on Apple TV+.

Shining Girls follows Kirby Mazrachi (Elisabeth Moss) as a Chicago newspaper archivist in the early 1990s whose journalistic ambitions were put on hold after enduring a traumatic assault. When Kirby learns that a recent murder mirrors her own case, she partners with seasoned, yet troubled reporter Dan Velazquez (Wagner Moura), to uncover her attacker’s identity. As they realize these cold cases are inextricably linked, their own personal traumas and Kirby’s blurred reality allow her assailant to remain one step ahead. In addition to Moss and Moura, the gripping drama stars Phillipa Soo as Jin-Sook, Amy Brenneman as Rachel, and Jamie Bell as Harper Curtis.

ComicBook.com caught up with Brewer to talk about her interest in the series, reuniting with Moss, and if other reunions with former collaborators could be in her future.

WARNING: Mild spoilers below for the latest episode of Shining Girls

ComicBook.com: This is a super exciting opportunity to have you drop by Shining Girls, to play this pivotal, integral role.

Madeline Brewer: Oh, my God. The time of my life.

Tell me more about what made this the time of your life. What was so exciting about getting involved in this?

I mean, I love my job on the Handmaid’s Tale. I’m very lucky and I love my character and I feel very close to that show, but this was something so entirely different than anything I’ve done before. And I got to work with Lizzie, which was just … It’s always a dream. It’s never not a dream to work with her. And I mean, truly, they painted me green and let me run around on a stage. That’s every theater kid’s dream.

Being painted green and running around on stage would be, I’m more of an introvert, so that sounds terrifying to me, but I can see the appeal for why that would be so exciting.

Oh yes. Very fun.

You got to work with Lizzie on this, and she served as a director on the series as well, earlier in the series. Was there at all a part of you that really wished you could have gotten to have her behind the camera for your episode?

Oh yeah. And I had just worked with her. She had directed me in Handmaid’s Tale last season. She directed what is my favorite Janine moment of the series, to be honest. And so, yeah, I was bummed out, but then I also got to work with Daina Reid, who I’d worked on with Handmaid’s Tale, and was just so thrilled to be reunited with her again, and to work with a director that I know and who knows me and my style. And I know we got along well. And then Bonnie [Elliott], the DP was just exceptional and so kind. We just had a great time.

I do have to say how relieved and how excited I was to get to see you having a relatively good time in this show. Knowing that you were going to be in this episode and knowing the overall tone of this series, I thought, “Ah, I don’t know if I want to see her be traumatized or assaulted more,” and you get to have fun and laugh and experience joy.

Yeah, the whole time. That was new. The scene that Lizzie and I shot at, I think we’re at Sid’s and we’re dancing, and I was just like, “This is such a departure from what we’re used to,” but it was so cool to experience that fun with her in that environment. Because that’s who she and I are. If you see me and Lizzie at a party or at an awards show or an after-party or whatever, we are on the dance floor. That’s really cool.

I think you just pitched an all-new series for Apple TV+ or Hulu, just The Lizzie and Madeline Show where it’s about having fun in between the various traumatic on-screen experiences that your characters have suffered.

Hey, I know.

You get to have a lot more fun in this show, but when it comes to the darker or more macabre subject matter, if you will, do you feel it is a therapeutic process? Do you feel like you’re getting those demons out of your emotions, so that way you can free up that space in your real life?

I do absolutely excise trauma through the characters that I play. In Klara, it was very different. In Klara, I got to experience a different part of myself and actually confront parts of my own self. She is so different from me. Klara is someone who sees the fullness of her entire experience.

For me, looking at Klara and seeing the way that she handles things and the way that she’s handled her life and what she’s done for herself, made me want to be more adventurous and more intrepid. And, so I excise my trauma with Janine, and then I learn more about myself with Klara.

Since I loved your work in Cam and that movie felt so fresh and unique and so exciting, is there any plan to reunite with those filmmakers again? I know they’re working on a Faces of Death movie, or I wondered if you could ever envision any follow-up or spin-off to Cam or of that world?

The experience that I had on Cam was the most wonderful thing. I don’t even have words for it. I mean, me and those filmmakers Isa Mazzei and Daniel Goldhaber are forever bonded because of that, and in a wonderful way. I would never, ever shut the door on doing a Cam follow-up. I think it would be more of those two that would be like, “No, we’re done, we’re moving on.” And it was so much of Isa’s life, you know? It was very personal for her, but I mean, I’m almost in a constant state of texting Daniel and saying, “Okay, what are we doing? What are we working on? When are we getting back together?” I just saw him. He was at my birthday two weeks ago. And I think I after a couple of White Claws, [asking him], “When are we doing a movie?” They’re close friends and I adore them. And I think that I just want to be in their orbit, really. I’m so proud of them and I’m so in awe of them.

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Brewer’s episode of Shining Girls is now streaming on Apple TV+.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity. You can contact Patrick Cavanaugh directly on Twitter.