What Is Long Bright River About? Amanda Seyfried and the Cast Have Answers
Every episode of the new limited series is streaming now.
In Long Bright River, Peacock’s new eight-part limited series starring Amanda Seyfried (The Dropout, Mamma Mia!), Philadelphia police officer Mickey Fitzpatrick patrols a neighborhood hard-hit by the opioid crisis.
In Kensington, where many women suffering from addiction turn to sex work to survive, Mickey and her partner Lafferty (Dash Mihok, Ray Donovan) discover a dead woman on their beat. While the department is quick to declare the death is overdose-related, Mickey is convinced something is off.
A Mystery
The string of possible murders hits home for Mickey, who grew up in the neighborhood and knows many of the area’s sex workers by name. At the same time, she’s also looking for Kacey (Ashleigh Cummings, Citadel), her younger sister who struggles with addiction and hasn’t been seen in a while.
“It’s kind of as grounded as you can get for a fictional account of people in a neighborhood hard-hit by the opioid epidemic, and this stigma and the fear that surrounds that particular neighborhood and Kensington Avenue,” said Seyfried, who did a lot of research to prepare for the role. “We’re talking about real stuff and playing real people in real circumstances.”
As Mickey tries to raise concerns about a possible serial killer, she quickly realizes that she won’t get the support she needs from her partner or the sergeant of her department. Digging deeper into the crimes puts this single mother in a dangerous position — not to mention there’s a suspicious red truck that keeps driving by the apartment where she lives with her 7-year-old son Thomas (Callum Vinson).
A Family Drama
At its heart, Long Bright River is a family saga that questions what we inherit through generations, told through the characters of Mickey, Kacey, Thomas, and Gee — Mickey’s grandfather who raised her (played by The Wire’s John Doman).
“The characters who are successful in the series are the characters who are able to interrogate their upbringing and their own actions and sometimes their own complicity and break that cycle,” said showrunner Nikki Toscano, “whether it’s Gee or Casey or Mickey, who we find out is keeping a lot of secrets.”
For the cast, audiences will hopefully see some version of their own family in the Fitzpatricks.
“I have a sister, and I know how deeply I love her and how deeply those ties run,” Cummings told Peacock. “People can relate. Maybe you don’t see yourself in Kensington, maybe you don’t see yourself in the characters struggling with substance use, but everyone knows what it’s like to have a family, whatever form it might take.”
Doman, who is Philly-Irish like his character, added, “Every family has their problems… but I think people will be able to relate to this situation and be empathetic and hopefully recognize the fact that ultimately love has to conquer all here.”
At the center of the family drama is Mickey’s precocious son, Thomas, who longs to understand where he comes from. “Callum is incredibly mature for his age in real life and on the screen,” said Long Bright River novelist Liz Moore about Vinson’s heartbreaking performance. “He has to be mature because his mother has sort of adultified him in every way, which is not a good thing necessarily. He has a world-weary demeanor which is exactly right for that character.”
A Philadelphia Story
It was important to the show’s cast and producers to authentically represent the Kensington area, which they accomplished not only by doing the research but also bringing locals into the fold.
“We got very creative about casting throughout the series,” Moore said. “There are a lot of people from Kensington and Philadelphia who we cast in roles large and small — many of whom had no prior acting experience.”
To ensure they were treating the denizens of Kensington respectfully, the cast immersed itself in many aspects of the area. To prepare for her role as Mickey, Seyfried met with activists and volunteers from Kensington, in addition to taking a ride-along with two local police officers — both single mothers like her character.
Cummings also did a lot of research on her own that included volunteering with harm-reduction organizations.
“I’ve spoken to people on the Ave who’ve had that experience, and they were very generous in expressing what that is like,” Cummings said. “I don’t think we give people who’ve overcome [addiction] — or people even experiencing it, because it’s not an easy life — the credit they deserve. It is so hard.”
The series, which takes place over the holiday season, leans on some seasonal celebrations for levity, including charming scenes with the local Mummers (a real Philly organization that holds an annual New Year’s parade) and a particularly entertaining scene at a Thanksgiving dinner (“Go, Birds”).
“The Thanksgiving scene is funny because you have all those personalities that a lot of people have in their families,” Seyfried said. “You have the chaos of people gathering, you got the game, the big dinner, people wrestling and hanging out, and there are a lot of characters in the show that remind me of my own extended family.”
A Bestselling Book
For those who have read Moore’s bestselling novel on which the series is based, don’t think you know everything that’s going to happen.
“I think the audience who has read the book is going to find that there are surprises along the way,” Toscano said. “By virtue of translating, there are investigative turns in the series that are not in the book.”
Nicholas Pinnock, who plays Mickey’s former partner Truman Dawes, said it was thrilling to read the scripts.
“Even though I read the book, you don’t know what’s going to happen,” he said. “So, I was reading like I would have been watching like an audience member, going, ‘Genuinely, who is it?’”
How to Watch Long Bright River
Stream every episode of Long Bright River, only on Peacock. You can also read or listen to Liz Moore's bestselling novel on Apple Books.
