Apples Never Fall Stars Talk Adapting a Troubled Family

In the upcoming Apples Never Fall, based on the Liane Moriarty novel of the same name, a number of long-held yet unspoken tensions between a family come bubbling up to the surface when the family’s matriarch mysteriously goes missing. While some of the friction being explored centers on universal issues that virtually all families have had to cope with, there are much more specific points of contention in the dynamic, requiring stars Alison Brie and Essie Randles to develop an on-screen connection that also came with pointed emotional distance. Apples Never Fall premieres on Peacock on March 14th.

Apples Never Fall centers on the seemingly picture-perfect Delaney family. Former tennis coaches Stan (Sam Neill) and Joy (Annette Bening) have sold their successful tennis academy and are ready to start what should be the golden years of their lives. While they look forward to spending time with their four adult children (Jake Lacy, Alison Brie, Conor Merrigan-Turner, Essie Randles), everything changes when a wounded young woman knocks on Joy and Stan’s door, bringing the excitement they’ve been missing. But when Joy suddenly disappears, her children are forced to re-examine their parents’ so-called perfect marriage as their family’s darkest secrets begin to surface.

With the performers having both scripts and a novel to base their work on, Brie addressed how she prepared to bring her character to life.

“Melanie Marnich’s writing on this show is extraordinary and I loved the nuance that she brought to Amy and there were certainly some lines of dialogue, some of which have been cut from the show, but that I could use to really tap into the character. One of our directors, Dawn Shadforth, I felt like was so good at finding those little clues and tying you into that,” Brie shared with ComicBook.com of developing her on-screen persona. “But after reading the episodes, I certainly went back to the book and used that for reference. Liane Moriarty is a master at creating really complex characters. And in the span of a show, you don’t have time to delve into the interior monologues of every character, although I think this show does a good job of showing the different characters’ perspectives. So the book became a really great tool to see those facets to Amy that no one ever would know about but me, but I could tie them into my character work.”

With this being one of the first major roles for Randles, she expressed the influence she felt from collaborating so closely with her costars.

“She’s so talented and so great at what she does, but so generous, so friendly, and we just immediately would just like, ‘Oh, yeah, we’re sisters,’” Randles said of collaborating with Brie. “And Ali gave me some amazing advice, which I think about all the time, before an emotional scene or a scene that you’re nervous for, just to take your own space and do exactly what you need to do and don’t feel embarrassed. And I think about that constantly.”

The pair also addressed whether they think this was an isolated instance of tension in the Delaney family or if the events of the series would establish a new normal.

“I think it’s that question of, ‘Do people ever really change?’ But I think that I can answer for my character,” Randles expressed. “I think that for Brooke, the journey that she goes on and these walls and this facade that break away, I think is potentially going to be such a … If she were to continue to exist, I think it would be such a positive thing in her life just to be more truthful and more comfortable being a bit messy and being a bit more emotional and being a bit more like a big sister probably, actually.”

Brie added, “I think all the characters in the show, weirdly, going through this crisis and having secrets of theirs revealed take a step closer towards the healthy side of familial relationships. But as you said about can people really change, it is interesting how when you’re with your family, you have a tendency to revert to your teenage self. Those dynamics that you establish when you’re growing up never vanish. So I would imagine that a lot of that stuff would stick with the family, and they might be haunted by some of these events for a long time.”

Apples Never Fall premieres on Peacock on March 14th.

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