Nicole Holofcener, whose 2006 feature “Friends with Money” debuted at the Sundance Film Festival in 2006, followed by “Please Give” in 2010 and “You Hurt My Feelings” in 2023, is back at the festival for its last time in Park City, Utah. And this time she hasn’t brought along a new movie, but rather a television series called “Worried,” whose 33-minute pilot episode debuted in the episodic program.
The series is based on Alexandra Tanner’s warmly reviewed 2024 novel “Worry,” which itself is based on novelist’s own very true story.
“It is really based on an experience I had living with my younger sibling. We shared a studio apartment that was like 150 square feet for six months,” Tanner told TheWrap founder and editor-in-chief Sharon Waxman as part of our 2026 Sundance Interview Series.
“Their housing fell through, and they showed up at my door with three suitcases. And I was like, ‘You can stay here for a few weeks.’ And then it was six months. The novel was like, How do I take the brutality of that period and extend it into a year that these sisters have together? Holding real people in your head is, I think, a valuable and fun way to write.”
In “Worried,” the sisters are played by Gideon Adlon and Rachel Kaly, with Holofcener clarifying that only the first episode had been filmed and that they were waiting for the series to get picked up so they could do more. While Holofcener is best known as a feature director, she has directed tons of television, including episodes of the original run of “Sex and the City,” plus “Six Feet Under,” “Gilmore Girls,” “Parks and Recreation” and “Orange is the New Black,” among many others.
“I directed the script, but there’s always changes, and then I can never remember what was the script and what was someone else’s idea, which is the same with my movies. It’s like, Did I write that or did they say that?,” Holofcener said. “But the chemistry between all the characters in the show is so natural and fun to watch and believable and honest. That’s why I wanted to direct this. We all have the same taste.”
Kaly, a writer and comedian, is a relative newcomer to being on camera. “I started in standup and do a lot of writing, and more recently, I’ve started being on screen. But I feel like I can only play people close to who I am,” she said. “I have a lot in common with both characters, and I feel like the dynamic between the sisters is just really real – my sibling and I, we shared a room. I grew up in the same room as them and it was constant bickering.”
“It’s not easy to have siblings or sisters,” added Adlon. The actress, daughter to “Better Things” creator Pamela Adlon and sister to “Marty Supreme” breakout Odessa A’zion, said she found parallels between the characters in the story and her real life.
“I remember my parents’ divorce completely differently, right, than my sisters. And I’m the oldest. Like, Poppy and Jules will remember their s–t with their mom differently. It was always so natural because of the way that it’s written. And that felt so good,” said Adlon.
Adlon said she didn’t read the book until she knew she had secured the role.
“I loved the script so much, I didn’t want to read the book because I knew I’d be really upset. I knew there was no way that I wasn’t going to like the book. And I read it and I couldn’t believe it. I read it in two days,” said Adlon.
