By the end of the first episode of Freeform’s new drama “Guilt,” it seems like any of the show’s characters could have killed Molly Ryan: There’s Molly’s mysterious and hot-headed brother, the enigmatic roommate/pimp, the professor with questionable ethics, the sleazy artist boyfriend, the evil stepfather, and then of course there’s Grace, Molly’s roommate and Scotland Yard’s prime suspect.
Grace’s sister Natalie, a Boston lawyer, comes out of Monday’s premiere as just about the only one who believes her sister is innocent of the murder, but co-creator Nichole Millard says that can and will change as the season progresses.
“Natalie is going to have to confront some really uncomfortable truths about her sister that would cause anybody to question whether or not their sibling could be guilty [of murder],” Millard said in an interview with TheWrap. Every character is a suspect, and that goes double for Grace.
“Guilt” stars Daisy Head (as Grace Atwood), Emily Tremaine (as Natalie), Billy Zane, Cristian Solimeno, Naomi Ryan and Kevin Ryan.
Read the rest of the interview below:
TheWrap: Throughout the first episode, Grace is refreshingly unapologetic about her drug use and sexual history. Was that an intentional character choice?
Nichole Millard: It definitely was. We felt like it represented that demographic right now. They feel more entitled to do the things that we wanted to do — or maybe we did do — when we were that age. Also, the goal with that was to distinguish Daisy’s character [Grace] from that of her sister. Natalie is just much more responsible and has a harder time accepting that her sister not only made these decisions, but is so unapologetic about them. And while she doesn’t believe she is capable of murder, it certainly makes it harder for her to be sympathetic.
A lot of the characters seem to have secrets yet to be revealed, but should viewers approach the rest of the season assuming anyone could be guilty?
I think it’s safe to say that Natalie didn’t do it because she was in the United States, but yeah we wanted fans to be questioning whether or not Grace is guilty of the murder. And every character she meets could’ve had motive, or opportunity, or some indirect causal factor in Molly’s death.
Will we learn more about Molly as the season progresses? Will we see more of Rebekah Wainwright in flashbacks?
We will see more of Molly. It was really important to us that our audience get to know more of this girl who lost her life so they can understand the impact of her death and really feel for her. So we will see more of Molly not only in flashbacks, but also in found footage that Molly filmed with Grace and with other characters.
Grace and Natalie had an especially emotional scene toward the end of Episode 1 where Natalie actually asks her sister if she killed Molly. Does she believe Grace when she says she didn’t?
I think at that point, she absolutely believes her sister. But going forward, Natalie is going to have to confront some really uncomfortable truths about her sister that would cause anybody to question whether or not their sibling could be guilty. That was another really interesting thing for Kathryn [co-creator Kathryn Price] and I to explore, because in your life there are a few people you assume you know really well. And you know how they would respond to every situation. But often times we find out that we don’t know the people closest to us.
“Guilt” airs Mondays at 9/8c on Freeform.