Sweetpea Star Ella Purnell Talks Bringing the Serial Killer to Life

Part of what has made actor Ella Purnell such an entertaining performer is how, no matter how complex and layered her characters might be, she injects them with charm and delight that allow audiences to empathize with them. Whether it be figures like Jackie in Yellowjackets attempting to persuade her fellow survivors to make major sacrifices to survive or her character of Lucy in Fallout, emerging from a bomb shelter to navigate the wasteland, all of Purnell’s roles offer an entry point for a viewer to connect with. In her new series Sweetpea, however, Purnell is tasked with injecting humanity into a character who is driven to violence as a response to the mistreatment she suffers. Sweetpea premieres on Starz on Thursday, October 10th.

Even though the new series is based on the book by C.J. Skuse, Purnell promised die-hard fans will still be surprised, as she detailed to ComicBook, “I will say, the series and the book are quite different. I would say that the show is the prequel to the book. By the time the book starts, I think Rhiannon is ‘Sweetpea,’ she’s fully fledged Sweetpea. And this is the making of Sweetpea. I would say, by the end of the series, you might meet a Rhiannon you’re a little more familiar with, if you’ve read the books.”

Starz describes the series, “Rhiannon Lewis (Purnell) doesn’t make much of an impression — people walk past her in the street without a second glance. She’s continually overlooked for a promotion at work, the guy she likes won’t commit, and her dad is really, really sick. Then everything in her life turns upside down. Rhiannon is pushed over the edge and loses control. Suddenly the wallflower is gone, and in its place is a young woman capable of anything… Rhiannon’s life transforms as she steps into a new, intoxicating power, but can she keep her killer secret?”

Purnell was so invested in bringing this figure to life, she not only stars as Rhiannon, she also serves as a producer.

“I’ve always wanted to do it, I’ve always wanted to be on the other side of the camera, I had my first experience directing last year and I loved it. I always knew I would love it, I knew it was something I wanted to do and I was just holding out for the right project, I think,” the actor expressed of pulling double duty for the series. “It really just was a beautiful, serendipitous thing because they were looking for somebody who would be open to playing Rhiannon and producing. I think, in order to tell the story of a female serial killer that you relate to, you have to get really inside Rhiannon’s head, so they wanted a producer who was just on ‘Rhiannon Duty,’ it was just looking at Rhiannon’s stuff.”

She continued, “And I wanted to wait until I had something I thought I could really contribute to. I really wanted to put the work in and I wanted to find something that sparked that passion and it really just aligned beautifully and, as soon as I read the books and I read the script and I met the team, I just really, really felt, in my bones, I knew Rhiannon, I could be her. And I had a lot to say.”

Sweetpea premieres on Starz on Thursday, October 10th.

Are you looking forward to the new series? Contact Patrick Cavanaugh directly on Twitter or on Instagram to talk all things Star Wars and horror!