Despite decades of work on stage and screen, until Bad Sisters came along, actor Anne-Marie Duff had never played a character like Grace Williams.
When Sharon Horgan’s comedic drama first introduces Grace, she’s a sweet, tortured soul navigating an abusive marriage to the world’s biggest prick, John Paul (Claes Bang). Season 1 of the Apple TV+ series follows Grace’s sisters — Eva (Horgan), Bibi (Sarah Greene), Ursula (Eva Birthistle), and Becka (Eve Hewson) — in their many attempts to murder JP. In the end, he’s finally killed off in an unsuspecting way, and Grace and her daughter Blanaid (Saise Quinn) are freed from his suffocating clutches. In Season 2, however, that newfound peace proves short-lived.
Bad Sisters Season 2, Episode 2 spoilers ahead.
Picking up two years after JP’s death, Bad Sisters‘ sophomore season introduces viewers to a lighter version of Grace who happily marries her new beau, Ian (Owen McDonnell), in the premiere. Once the vows are exchanged and the cake is cut, Season 1’s neatly-tied bow starts to unravel and the past comes back to haunt the Garvey girls. Together the sisters can survive anything, but after Grace isolates herself from her support system, she meets her tragic demise in a car crash at the end of Episode 2.
“I thought it was such a brilliant idea,” Duff told Decider over Zoom. “There’s such a very beautiful, but very sad inevitability about Grace’s demise, because she’s so bad at being rescued, isn’t she? During Season 1, she’s so isolated by her horrible bully of a husband. But during Season 2, she isolates herself from her sisters, who could save her. So there’s no way out for her except the ultimate departure, really.”
In honor of the stellar show’s return and the loss of a Very Good Bad Sister, Duff spoke with Decider about the emotional roller coaster of filming her final scene, working with Owen McDonnell and Fiona Show, what the role has meant to her, and her excitement to watch as a fan moving forward.
We obviously have to start with the devastating end of Season 2, Episode 2, where Grace gets into a car accident and Blanaid and Eva learn that she died. What were your thoughts when you learned about that heartbreaking twist?
I did learn ahead of receiving the scripts, I didn’t get horrible shock or anything. I thought it was such a brilliant idea. I love it when writers and show creators mix things up a bit and there are surprises. And there’s such a very beautiful, but very sad inevitability about Grace’s demise, because she’s so bad at being rescued, isn’t she? During Season 1, she’s so isolated by her horrible bully of a husband. But during Season 2, she isolates herself from her sisters, who could save her. So there’s no way out for her except the ultimate departure, really.
There’s no question that Grace’s sisters will be absolutely wrecked over her loss. But since this is such a spectacular show and you’ve built incredibly strong relationships, I imagine it was tough for you to depart Season 2 as an actor as well. Was it emotional on set when you filmed your final scene?
It was curious, because I did film that crash as my last scene, and that never happens when you’re filming, right? It was the middle of the night and I was on my own with loads of stuntmen, and I felt so terrified of getting things wrong technically. I was feeling all the feelings that you feel when you’re leaving a show. And I had a brilliant director whispering in my ear, “Don’t forget the character’s truth.” So it was a very powerful last night for me. I never experienced anything like that before.
Before Grace’s death she shares some very heated scenes with Angelica, who is such a deeply irritating, terrifying, phenomenal character that we see much more of as the season progresses. What was it like going head-to-head with the great Fiona Shaw?
I mean, what a gift for all of us. We were so excited when she turned up. We were just so delighted. Fiona and I have known each other socially for a long time, but we never actually worked together. So it was just heavenly. I love watching her, because her craft is so brilliant. She’s so playful, and dedicated, and curious, and part of the team. In a way I suppose it comes from being a real theater actor. She’s absolutely in the theater company of the show. So it was it was heaven.
You two are amazing together. We know that Season 2 picks up two years after JP’s death, so I like to think the sisters had many great times we just didn’t see, one of them being the early days of Grace’s relationship with Ian. What was it like sharing those wide-ranging scenes with Owen McDonnell?
It was great working with Owen. It was a totally different dynamic to working with Claes, which is also exciting as an actor. He’s such a gentleman and is very curious, so you could believe how Grace would totally trust him and fall in love with him and not see any red flags.
Going forward, should viewers fully trust Ian? He straight-up ditched Grace in her time of need, which is a major red flag in my book.
Exactly. There are lots of secrets still out there, even after Grace’s departure, because Grace leaves without anyone knowing anything. So she’s still holding on to all of these secrets. But his storyline is very interesting as [the season] goes on.
No one misses John Paul, but since you brought up Claes Bang, did you feel his absence this season since he was such a crucial scene partner for you in Season 1?
Well, Claes is a strong personality, so of course you will feel his absence. But I think I so associated JP with him that actually I felt free. It was a hard shoot for me Season 1, because we had eight to nine months of me playing those scenes with him all the time, and him insisting on calling me “mammy” between takes. [Laughs] Yeah. Oh it was great fun.
After Season 1, I told Sharon Horgan I was sort of shipping Grace and Roger, but your Season 2 scenes with Michael Smiley have such a darker tone. He and Angelica really feel like loose cannons this season. Did that romance ever cross your mind? And after Grace’s death, how worried about him should we be?
I know. He suddenly becomes a would-be Lothario after Grace’s death, doesn’t he? I think once Roger aided and abetted her with that murder there was no hope of them continuing any kind of normal relationship, because she coerced him into helping her. They didn’t plan this together. She corners him and it’s an abuse of trust, really. So it’s not surprising that he’s angry with her, but he loves her. It’s a complex little dynamic, isn’t it?
You’ve done just such remarkable, award-winning work on this show. Looking back on the series and the warm reception that led to Season 2, and watching people see themselves in Grace, what has this role meant to you?
It was a real gift for me. This is such great writing. But also, I never played anything like this before. To begin with, during Season 1, she’s so translucent, isn’t she? She’s sort of this invisible woman who’s desperately trying to just fit in and keep the world in a calm and a perfect place, and that was exhausting; the pressure of holding everything in, of denying yourself. So then to move into what we think is a freer space in Season 2, but that also is a lie, which is why she testifies so quickly. She tells Ian this part of her secret so quickly. These are all gifts for an actor. I got to play so many different things, and she’s so swollen, isn’t she, Grace? With all of the feelings and thoughts. So I was very grateful to Sharon Horgan.
Before we wrap, do you know who’s in the trunk? And are you excited to watch the rest of the season as a fan?
Of course I know who’s in the trunk. [Laughs] But I’m so excited, because I purposely did not read any of the scripts after I died, because I wanted to be able to watch it and discover everything myself. It’s much more fun for me this way. And I get to see my sisters in moments that are so unexpected. To be able to see them play different sides of their characters, I’ve just loved.
This interview was edited for length and clarity.
New episodes of Bad Sisters Season 2 premiere Wednesdays on Apple TV+.
