Drama Queens - Work in Progress: Yvonne Strahovski

Episode Date: November 27, 2024

Emmy-nominated actress Yvonne Strahovski first turned heads as a CIA agent in the popular NBC series Chuck, followed by a role in another hit show, Dexter, and, of course, as Serena Joy Waterford in the award-winning series The Handmaid's Tale. Yvonne joins Sophia to chat about the final season of The Handmaid's Tale, including how she feels about the show coming to an end, the scenes that made her feel uncomfortable, how significant and relevant the show is in the current political space, and how she would love to dive into a comedy next! Plus, she talks about juggling her globe-trotting career with motherhood, what she was like as a child, and starring and executive-producing her new horror series, Teacup, on Peacock! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Hi, everyone. It's Sophia. Welcome to Work in Progress. Hi, friends. Welcome back to Work in Progress. This week, we are joined by a true multi-hyphenate powerhouse artist who I have been a fan of, forever. I'm talking since the early days of her comedy on NBC, Chuck, to Dexter to 24. She is just an absolute icon and has certainly taken the world by storm in The Handmaid's Tale. Yvonne Strahovsky is here today to talk about what it feels like to be finishing such a

seminal series that has had such an incredible impact on culture, potentially, unfortunately. has been a bit predictive. We're going to talk about what it's like to balance working on something that is so heavy while also seeing it reflected in the world, where she finds her joy, how she balances motherhood with being a star of a show of this size, and also adapting a best-selling novel and starring in an executive producing another series, Peacock's newest horror show called Teen. Cup, which I watched in advance of this interview, and I can confirm it is both incredible and terrifying. I truly just can't wait to ask Yvonne how she manages to do it all. And what's up

next for her? Let's dive in. Hello. Oh, hi. How are you? Oh, I'm cool. How are you? I'm really well, thanks. Where do I find you today? I'm in Toronto. Our, our walls look so similar, except you're just going to say. Clossier than, well, mine is my kid's art. No, it's sweet. How are things in Toronto? They're good. Yeah, they're good. You know, it's a little weird being here right now. Post-election. Yeah, I bet. Yeah, it's super. complicated.

Yeah, it's a little weird. I remember this feeling. You know, I was here one other time when this same thing happened. Yeah. So it just, I don't know, yeah. It's just a little weird. It's a little weird being here on the show and playing the role. I know I said, so yeah.

But here we are. We're finishing up, you know, season six of the show and that's it. What a trip. Yeah. Well, let's, instead of sitting where we are, let's rewind. I actually always really like to ask people because, you know, I sit opposite someone like you who is just like I don't even know what word I want to pick first. Incredible, accomplished, brilliant.

You're such an amazing performer. You've done all of these incredible projects that we love and we all know you now. but I always like to kind of understand or poke and see if you got to hang out with your childhood self like if we went you know into the space time continuum and you got to meet eight year old Yvonne on the playground would you see yourself and your career like would you see the through line in her or did life just take a left turn and you can't believe this is where you are oh yeah no that I would definitely see the through line, you know, I'm experiencing this with my six-year-old right now. He's, like, starting to do

these, like, I was the kid that was like, look at me. I'm going to do his kids. I'm going to win away everyone at the dinner party so that someone will like, watch me do stuff. And I'm seeing that in my eldest son. And, you know, he wanted to get, he wanted, not a real guitar, like a play guitar for his birthday. And he got one. And now he's like running around the house, kind of doing all these like he's just making up songs and it's very loud and very funny and I'm just I'm looking at him like what you're saying like the kid in the park like would I recognize that I'm looking at him and thinking oh my god like that was me that was that was what I used to do and anyway I don't know obviously there's no way to know you know whether he's going to end up in

the same space but certainly certainly at that age or I mean probably a little bit later when I was about 12 I kind of that was kind of when I was like yeah I need to be an actress I just kind of had it in my head wow that was what I wanted to do and I had been doing it probably since then yeah how did that begin for you back in Australia were there like was there a local theater company or were there shows you were watching where you saw other kids and you thought oh I'm I'm gonna do that I you know we grew in Australia you know at that time we're very saturated with American TV shows and programming. And so I think there was, you know, there was just some, you know, like the crappy community

hole down the road was doing, you know, acting classes. And my best friend and I signed up. We were just like, it was like, you know, you play charades. You do drama games. Yeah. And you're a kid. And I just remember we would take over the class because we had this whole charade stick that we knew.

Like, you know, we know the answer in one. one second as soon as one one of us would do the thing and um so that's kind of where it started and then um and then i just sort of ended up in every school play or musical imaginable that i could get my hands on to the point where i was uh just didn't have time to do anything else uh i just kind of wanted to be in everything and do everything um so it was kind of i guess it was a very saturated natural progression kind of going from high school into, you know, with all the plays and stuff and then going into university where I did, you know, the drama degree was very practical and theater based and whatever. And, um, and then I ended up starting a,

you know, a little theater company with a friend of mine from, from drama school. So we would, you know, she's, um, her name's Anna and she's Finnish and she would have these finish plays that she liked from Finland and we would adapt them to an Australian audience and work with them and produce them and cast them and do all this stuff and then that didn't last very long because the next thing you know I ended up in the States and that was when I was 24 and now it's been almost two decades. Wow. Since that moment. So what was it that brought you to the U.S. so quickly? I assume, you know, beginning of theater company is a pretty big undertaking. So was it something that you booked or was it someone who said

you've got to come here and start getting on the scene and auditioning? What was the move like for you? It was totally random. I mean, not totally random. I was, you know, I was dating a guy at the time and there was a bunch of Aussie actors who had this movie who had gotten into TIF at the time and they were all going. And they, we were at the pub one night and they were. We were at the pub one night and they were saying, you know, you should come with us and, you know, try, try to get some meetings in America. And I remember thinking, oh, you know, I had terrible skin at the time. I had really bad acne on my face. And I thought, oh, I don't know. Like, I probably, you know, I don't know if anyone's going to, you know, want me there. But, you know, okay, I'll give it a go. And so,

I went with them and I remember having my Australian agent at the time pushed me to go. She said, you should, you should do this. And she had set me up with these five meetings. I got rejected from four out of the five agents and managers, whoever I met with at the time. And the only people who wanted to work with me were these two women managers who I still work with to this day. Oh, I love that. And the rest are kicking themselves. No, right. Maybe. But anyway, so, yeah, so I remember, that was like a two-week trip.

And then I remember it was the end of 2006. I came back home for Christmas. I got my tonsils out. And then I finished a small guest job role in Australia. And I got back on a plane to do, you know, pilot season at the time in 2007. Back then we had, you know, that. pilot season thing going on. And, but I was late to the pilot season because I was on this other job in Australia. And so I was auditioning like self-tapping before self-taping was a thing.

And I was sending over tapes, one of which was for the show, Chuck on NBC. And so the day that I actually landed in the States was the day they saw my tape and the day they called and said, we want her to test the next day at the network and the studio. And I didn't know what was going on. I had no clue how the business worked. I didn't know what a test was. I didn't know I would be meeting all of the executives at NBC and Warner Brothers. And then literally I went and did this test.

And then I remember my, you know, he's coming out, shaking my hand at the network and saying, you know, congratulations, you've got the job. and I you know my head exploded and then that was kind of it it was it was so quick and so I just hadn't wrapped my head around any of it yeah oh my gosh it's so it really is so crazy and I think people don't know the swiftness with which your whole life changes like you landed and then you had to stay here I I remember doing the the call back for my test for One Tree Hill. And I was in college. And then suddenly they were like, you're moving to North Carolina in 12 days. And I had to call my university and be like, I'm not

coming and tell my roommate. I wasn't coming. And she had to find a new roommate. And I was so stressed out for her. I was like, who are you going to live with? Like all of these things that now they seem so funny to me. But you're just, there you go. Figure it out. Like your stuff. Yeah. Yeah. It's exactly that. And the sort of like unprepared, you're unprepared. You're young. Like, I mean, it was so young. And I, yeah, I did, I literally remember pulling over on Bob Pope Drive in Burbank. In my like really crappy rental car. I don't know how they rented out cars back then. There was a piece like one rental company that all the Australians used to go to in Los Angeles. And we would, you know, get the cars. And I called my parents in Australia and told them I wasn't coming home at the time that I thought I was going to come home. I was like, God, job. And they were like, what?

And I never went home. I was supposed to go back two months later. And then it was a year. It was a year to the day before I went back. So my original ticket had expired. But yeah, I didn't know. I mean, it was like, I didn't know what a grocery store was called. I didn't know what it, like, I just didn't know anything.

or anyone. And it was intense. It was an intense first few years, several first few years. Well, and the show was so fun. What was it like for you? I imagine it's kind of a seesaw, the culture shock and having to learn so quickly, but also, you know, in a way having your dream come true. And being on, you know, the show that's, it's a big hit. It's hilarious. People love it. you know, could you enjoy it, or was it just a total whirlwind the first season? I think it was everything. It was, you know, it was a year without any, any one that I was used to, you know, like you have all your best friends and you have your parents or whoever, like your loved ones. And then suddenly you're doing this thing. And it's amazing. And you get to,

you, yeah, you have, you have this thing in front of you that you've all wanted, but at the same time, it's, you know, that there's a sacrifice that comes with that. Yeah. And I think just the culture shock also was a big thing for me at the time, you know. It's, I know, you know, obviously, I mean, I'm born in Australia. We speak the same English language here and there, but we don't because culturally things are really different. And it was just a matter of sort of getting used to that and trying to find. friends and connect with people and when you're young or when you're that I mean I'm not sure if there's any 24 year old to like super know who they are and you know you and you can you have good

judgment of character or whatever but you know it's a process and when you're that young it was so and it was a real process I remember feeling like it was probably a good like for the whole run of the show the show ran for five years and I remember feeling like it took me the whole time and beyond to really like truly sort of start to find like my people and have true connections that felt like they were going to last for a while. And I think also primarily because back then, you know, when you're on a network show, you're working the craziest hours. And that was, I think that was the biggest shock is just how many hours we would spend. there um and work way into saturday morning yeah and kind of get out on monday at the same time

that you had gone to bed on saturday yeah for nine months out of a year and it was like you know it's just a lot it was a lot but there's just so many of the feelings there's so many things yeah and now a word from our sponsors who make this show possible I talked about this with a friend of mine recently because I realized that, you know, from the time I didn't go to my senior year in college to the first time I'd come home for any real amount of time. It had been almost 15 years of being on location. Wow.

And I said, you know, in the one sense, I cherish being able to do this job that I love. And on the other, it's really hard to constantly be the person who has to play catch up with everyone in your life. Mm-hmm. Because nobody's awake at 4 a.m. when you're going to work. And most people aren't awake at 11 p.m. when you're going home. Mm-hmm. And you do. You just sort of disappear and you're grateful. But there's a loss and there's a grieving that comes with it that I think nobody's really wanted to hear about because there's this notion of like, well, you're so privileged and you're so lucky.

And it's not that those things aren't true. It's just that there's this other side of the coin that has been unacknowledged for so long. And it isn't lost on me that you got settled here and, you know, you worked on this job here having to move. And then, you know, I think about you having to go to Canada to do handmaids. And like, again, you had to move. Was it a weird readjust? Or did you sort of feel like you were more practiced? as a person having to pick up and leave and get settled in a whole new place again.

This feels like it's been my life the entire time that I've been here in the States. It's been like an ongoing moving around, you know, from, you know, shooting something in New Orleans at one point to, you know, Broadway, New York, shooting this other thing, Vancouver. And it usually, and if it's a show, you know, you're in, you're in, you're in. in the place for, you know, five, six months. I think there, I mean, we used to shoot a lot more stuff in LA. That was when I did chucking my first gig. And then also I think I did Dexter in L.A. But other than that, I'm pretty sure just about everything else has been not in L.A. So I'm well, well adjusted to like doing this whole travel thing. The only difference now is that I have three kids.

So I'm at this point, I think, in my life slash career, where I'm trying to figure out how long this can go on for. Because I'm getting into the age range with my eldest. He's in grade one here. So his first grade one experience is Canada. It's not home where we live. And he and because he and like my all my kids have been with me and we sort of travel as a family unit all together. And all three of them as babies have come to work with me.

They come to the trailer, you know, so I can't keep nursing. They're really used to the changing of locations. And they understand that our family is also spread apart because, you know, I have family in Australia, Poland, America. It's a whole thing. And so they kind of get it. but I do know that there will come a point with my eldest first, I'm sure, where, you know, he's not going to want to do that anymore. He's going to want to stay, going to want to have his friends, and it's going to be a readjust.

So it's very much on my mind now, you know, this whole gypsy life that I've been doing for almost two decades is, you know, there's going to be a readjust. And, yeah, it's ever-changing. It's wild. And there's that personal stuff. of it. And then I guess I'm so curious about the sort of individual personal to professional because not to, you know, we're all exhausted by it. I don't want to get in the weeds of politics, but it's not lost on me also what you had said, that the bookend of Handmaids is

the beginning and this last season are occurring at very odd times politically. what is sort of the most challenging part for you about playing a character like Serena Joy which was going to be my question anyway and then I guess I wonder how you're navigating the sort of intersection of your work as a performer as it relates to the larger landscape of the world does it make it harder in a way

to leave work at work or does it make the work feel more important than ever? Or maybe it's a little bit of both. Oh, yeah. You know, back when I first started the job, I never imagined how significant the show would become in the political space, nor did I ever consider myself to be politically articulate

in any way, shape, or form. But, you know, it goes hand in hand. I mean, the show and the politics and what it represents. I mean, it's unavoidable. I never imagined, you know, what I would, I didn't understand the scope of the character either or what it would go, you know, beyond the book, what we've done with Serena, what the writers have written, what I've, you know, the places I've gone to in these scenes.

I remember feeling super uncomfortable with a lot of it at the beginning. Obviously, the ceremony scenes were probably the hardest. And I felt, and it felt icky. And then, you know, and then I got used to it. And we, you know, we have, you know, work is like any other kind of a fun workplace. We go, we tell jokes, it's light. It's not, you know, it's not a serious set outside of what we're doing between action and caught. And, and then, you know, and I started to really enjoy what this character.

I mean, what, what was on offer in terms of the scenes and what I've been able to do, just as a performer and how amazing, you know, these scenes just push you to the limits of all the gray areas of humanity and sort of trying to justify how this woman operates and whatever. And obviously she's kind of like, you know, over here like this weird best friend, but not best friend in my life. And then, you know, the other day, I just didn't want to be in her shoes anymore. I just remember thinking, God, it was such a hard day. I just didn't want to be the person representing her anymore, even though I am.

And I will, and I do it proudly. I do it with, you know, because she's in a way, she's kind of like, you know, one of my creative babies. And I am excited to see this through to the end because of what, you know, it all represents. and stuff but but it's um i was like thrown back into that first season and then some kind of just like thinking it was a hard day to sort of get it together it was probably the first and only time in the last 20 years that i've come to set and not been able to get through a rehearsal or a blocking and just was just going through all the things yeah Yeah. Well, that's the thing. These containers are reflective of the human experience. And I think the most incredible thing about film or television is that it can create a container for conversation or catharsis or learning. And it's a big container to be in in the present moment. And, you know, when I think about the dystopian world that that would create.

created in The Handmaid's Tale and this conversation about, you know, women and our bodies being the property and objects of men, I think there was a time where we thought, oh, we've passed that. And then we've been dragged back kicking and screaming and suddenly this dystopian tale feels like a reality. and I don't know I wish I could give you a hug like how are you not supposed to have a terrible day when that I don't know if the word is like comes to roost or what but I can't imagine how you could not have at least a day like that at work dealing with this as a woman and a mother and it's a lot it's a lot to carry how are you taking care of yourself in the midst of it like not to be a you know to sound like a wellness girlie but I'm like what is your self-care routine are you okay can I send you cookies like what's going on I don't think there I mean I don't really have what

self-care routine oh my god I have no time for that but I know it was one of those days where I just thought I mean I just was like I am going to give myself permission to just be messy today because I show up at work every day and you know and I do my thing and I've been doing this for so long I'm going to have one one messy day out of the 20 years that I've been doing this and I just sort of I mean I think that was the self-care is just to allow for that to happen and you know we have women a lot of women on set and that was also part of it I think everyone was a deep deep funk and I know we had a couple people come to set that weren't even working that day just because we had to we just had to you know sit around and chat and

you know, cry and do all the things we needed to do. You know, interestingly, I have my whole family. It lives in Poland except for my parents. And they just had went through a similar kind of a thing about a year ago. It's my 22-year-old cousin is living with us right now, helping me with my kids. And she came to work with me. And they're living that right now, you know, the women's rights.

they're living it and and and it's just it's kind of interesting having her here because you know they're they're already in that space um and we are sort of I think well God knows what's going to happen um we can all imagine but um yeah it's yeah it's it's just a bit it's it feels icky and I don't know I was sort of in a conversation also the other day about someone who was trying to sort of stay positive and have hope. And although I do have hope and for various reasons, whatever, but I wasn't ready for that conversation either. So I was like, yeah, no, none.

Yeah, you're like, give me a beat. Okay? Because I would imagine it was, again, I don't want to project, but I just empathetically, I imagine it was tough to do season five, knowing it was coming out after the fall of Roe. and now season six is your final season and we're we're back here does it does it feel sort of sad as a performer to say oh i wish this shadow wasn't over this last moment with this wonderful group of people i work with or does it kind of make you feel relieved that you're almost done

having to be in the world of this, you know, cinematic universe. Yeah, I mean, to be honest, I do, I feel relieved that we're almost done. But I'm also, I'm also sort of in awe and just, I cannot believe how aligned this show has been just over the course of its time. It's as if the writers have had a magical crystal ball, but they haven't, obviously. but it is insane how they will write stuff and then that very thing will become very prominent in the news or something you know various things and it's just been really wild to what it's it's i mean it's kind of like it was meant to be if you believe in you know bait and destiny

and the universe sort of providing a platform of sorts but it does really feel that way um yeah I'm like, if your writers have the crystal ball or their pen as weirdly predictive, can they write us a really heroic ending, please? And thank you. Yeah, we're right. And now a word from our sponsors. Well, aside from all of this, how do you feel like the show has, you know, impacted the trajectory of your

career. Has it been an incredible place just to learn and glean? I mean, I think about the folks you work with and the writers and, you know, even to be with Bradley Whitford and his, you know, incredible sort of iconic career. It appears that in every direction there's amazing teammates for you. And now, you know, you're starring in and executive producing teacup on Peacock, which, by the way, It's terrifying. I watched the first episode. I was like, I don't do horror for a reason. And here I am.

And I am a fan of yours, and we're going to do this interview, and I'm going to watch the thing. And I was like, I'm going to have nightmares. The suspense in the show is so good. And the dynamics between these characters feel so rich and real. You know, has working on a show like Handmaids influence the way you run your sets now? Yeah. I definitely

you know Handmaids was sort of I think where I was inspired you know so many of my cosmates if not all of them do things other than just act you know

like O.T. did made his you know made a television show he wrote it he was in it he directed it sold it to Hulu you know Max is directing I mean there's just a bunch of we have such an amazing group and I remember thinking wow um this is really inspiring and

alongside sort of this movement we should call it that that has finally started to celebrate women in this space and female cinematographers and female directors and it feels like we're finally sort of going and exploring this area and seeing other um other actresses who I don't even know, but seeing them sort of go and do other things and direct and take charge of their greater creative dreams. And so, you know, looking at all of that and what I used to do back in the day in Australia with my own little theater company and, you know, how creative that was. I just thought, wow, I really, I need to do that too. And so it was during the pandemic, really when we were here in Toronto shooting handmaids that I thought, you know, I'm going

to start planning all these seeds to branch out and start getting into this creative process which led me into, you know, optioning a book called A Woman of Intelligence, which, you know, that's going to be another project that I'll EP that I'm in development for right now and teacup and even just last year waking up in the middle of the night. and sort of deciding I'm going to do a short film and I'm going to film in three weeks and just you know, riding that, directing it and just getting into that space of creativity has been really rewarding and it's it is really inspiring to see people doing that all around and being really good at it. That's so cool. Can you tell the folks at home what teacup is about? Well, Ticump is

a horror, much more horror than I originally thought it was going to be, a series about, oh, well, I play a woman called Maggie, Maggie Chanoweth, and she has a husband and two kids, and they live on a farm in Georgia, and they are, you know, a regular, ordinary family until weird stuff starts happening on the farm, and they end up sort of getting contained to the farm by this, I guess you could call it a force of some kind that they cannot explain. And so the show sort of follows the characters trying to figure out what is going on and it gets pretty gruesome at point at some points with a pretty banging ending. And my favorite element of the show and what got me interested in the first place is the sort of the family relationships

and the character part of it because I love the fact that, you know, Scott Speedman plays my husband, James, and straight in the pilot, you understand that, you know, he's had an affair, he's done something bad, and they're already at odds with each other,

and they're hiding it from the kids, and there's a great amount of tension, just kind of going into it already emotionally, which is really fun as a performer to sort of start there, and then the rest of it unfolds. Um, so yeah. It's really exciting. The, the, in the pilot, that first scene with you and the actress who plays his mom.

Mm-hmm. I just thought, God, this is so well written because the audience hasn't had it explained what he's done, but you have a hunch. And you don't talk about it. You just say it's not you that I'm mad at or whatever that version of the line is. And I was like, oh, it's just so. It's so good and smart because it lets us, it lets us begin solving a mystery right away before we even know what the mystery of the show is. You know, there's a mystery in the house.

And it's just very, very exciting. And it's really fun to see your touch on it. Yeah, it sets the scene for sure for this distrust that ends up occurring in spades because of the horror element, but we already have this emotional element. just I really love the character arc. I mean, all episodes are now up and available, but I still, I'm not going to do any spoilers because that sucks, but, but certainly there, the journey of the character at the end, just going back into like her relationship with her husband and what that means and what she has to do in the end, um, there's a lot of sort of tough decisions that

she makes and she sort of ends up becoming this warrior woman. Um, uh, and it was, And it was super fun, like the last two episodes, just in terms of an emotional challenge. And what we had to get through was really exciting for me. And certainly handmade sets of really high bar when it comes to emotional drama. So this was really meeting the mark, I thought, you know. Yeah. What feels really important to you? What's sort of the central force when you're choosing the projects that you want to work on?

Do you gravitate towards certain types of stories and roles, or is the goal to always have each feel completely different than the last? I do like everything to feel different, for sure. But I think if I had to pick one thing that was the main thing, it would be some kind of weird complex emotional journey. That is kind of left of center. I just, I find it really, I find humanity fascinating. I find psychology fascinating. I find the gray area fascinating. Like all the things that, like, I'm, I'm the girl that's there for the debrief that goes

to 4 o'clock in the morning with, you know, whoever, who is up for that. And just, like, touching on every aspect of whatever the conversation is about and debriefing until you know there's nothing left to debrief about i i love that stuff i just find it absolutely fascinating and how we operate as humans and what influences us each individually to behave a certain way or to react in certain ways to others and and circumstances that make us react and i just think it's absolutely fascinating so when you get a character i mean someone like serena joy i mean that's like intense and amazing or even you know um i did this thing once called stateless um about a woman who ended up in a detention center who it's just like she was so fascinating and

complex um and then or or a character facing intensely complex decisions like maggie and teacup i just that's sort of probably the the biggest the biggest thing that i i look for but having said that i also would really love to do something funny. Me too. Just because, you know, maybe I need to be done a little bit with like that kind of stuff. So, you know, maybe maybe the next thing is just something just totally random and far-fetched in the other direction. Sign me up. I think we all could use a little bit of humor at the moment. Yes, for sure. What? Where does a woman of intelligence fall? is it is it also quite serious can can you give us a little overview of of what it's like to adapt a novel and and dig into something like that yeah i mean i it's definitely a drama for sure but having said that the woman i mean it's it's about

this amazing woman who's a mother of two young children and she loves being she loves her kids but she's not the best at being a mom and it's set in i mean this is interesting because it's set in in like 50s New York when it was rare that women worked but our main character actually is she speaks many languages and she works for the United Nations and so she has this job and she meets this guy and the guy wants to celebrate her for everything she has and tells her that if we have kids sure you're going to keep working and you can have your life and you know be fabulous and whatever and then that doesn't happen and so obviously and so she feels changed to this home with these two young children. He's a pediatric surgeon, so he insists that she stay home and nurse them

until they're 75 and all the things. And she ends up getting approached by the FBI to work for them and spy on her old flame from college, who is now KGB. So there's all these sort of tie-ins, I feel like, just in terms of what I loved about it, aside from the fact that it's an incredibly dense, rich novel filled with amazing storylines and characters. But the themes about women and what it meant back then to be a woman and how you had to present yourself as a mother, you know, as a daughter-in-law, a working woman, which was where at the time, you know, all the things. I love all of that and the parallels to now as well as the political landscape of that time period and how it reflects back to us in the now.

So, yeah, that's sort of where that is, or I guess I just told you the whole storyline of that. Not that you asked, but it's really exciting. And when do we get to see it? As early days. We're very much like sort of in development right now, writing scripts. I can't wait. Yeah. That sounds like an absolute dream. And, you know, so many of these women, regardless of timeline are not only dealing with their individual identities, but as you've said, they're shaped by motherhood in one way or another. What is it sort of like for you? I mean, you've got three young boys.

All their work is, you know, behind you on the wall right now, which I'm seeing. Obviously, cars is big in your house, too. how you mentioned earlier that you understand you know or you're you're sort of prepping for when being mobile in the way our jobs require is not necessarily going to be as easy um how do you navigate it and yes i know the irony that men never get asked this question but i am always quite fascinated by the women that i know who do all of it you know you know you know you know you you're wearing every hat. How have you integrated this into your career at large?

Yeah, that's the million dollar question, isn't it? No pressure. I mean, you know, I'm super honest. There's not a day that goes by where I'm not really actively wondering, how on earth am I going to do this? And somehow I'm doing it. But I'm also every day wondering, gosh, what are we going to I'm already you know the other yesterday I would me and my husband were having a

conversation of like well what are we doing after Canada are we going home are we we don't know yet what where we're going based on my work and so it's just kind of I don't it's a massive it's a massive juggle I don't know that I have it figured out sort of in theory I don't know that I've ever to explain it I just know that it's working. I don't think it for sure wouldn't be possible without my extraordinary husband who is at home with the kids when I'm at work. And so that's, I mean, we kind of have a traditional role of that's all, you know, so I'm the one that goes to work and he stays. But I, you know, if I could be a hundred percent,

stay at home mom. That's that's sort of my goal. I want to feel like I'm a hundred percent a stay at home mom so I'm present with my kids because it's so important to me to create the time. But I also I also love what I do and I want to do what I do. And I support my family. And so I have to balance it. I think the only way that right now and how I've been justifying that is that it's sort of 50-50 so for the times where I'm intensely at work there's an equal amount of time where I haven't been at work and I have been that version of the stay-at-home mom 100% of time that I want to be as well and it's just it's one of those things that you can't map out because of how crazy actors schedules are and how crazy it is that you you know you're supposed

to be here there everywhere and there's only one of you um how we're balance it is it's just kind of a case-by-case on a day-to-day thing you know um and a lot of it comes down to just my partner and I how we juggle it together and how we sort of hand you know pass the baton on each time and yeah it'd be it up so yeah it's um I remember being fascinated by this too with other actresses before I had kids I remember when I did stateless with hate Blanchett and I know she has a bunch of kids and I remember asking her like how on earth do you do this because I didn't understand it either and lo and behold I found myself in a similar with three I mean she has four I think kids but I have three and I never thought I would have

that many kids even you know and this struggle but but yeah it's an ongoing thing yeah and now a word from our wonderful sponsors. But I think what's really amazing is that people are talking to each other about it. And, you know, I don't think it's taboo to say, I love my job and I don't want to give it up. And I love my family, and I want to be with them as much as I can. And that requires sacrifice in both directions, and it requires a full village. Like, that's reality. And I think the more we can kind of let each other in on it instead of, like, keep it a secret, like, inside baseball, the better, you know, a friend of mine said to me, she was like, yeah, you can have it all.

You just can't have it all at the same time. And I thought, you know what? it's the simplest way I've ever heard anybody talk about it and then you just made me feel a lot better yeah yeah kind of amazing yeah I mean it yeah it's it's about prioritizing and really kind of I don't know I don't even I don't know I don't know how to answer that what is the bad I'm just trying to I'm just trying to make a work I'm like everybody else I'm just trying to make it work I don't have the answers that's it's just like you guys got to do it you just have to do it everybody's just doing the best they can. Yeah. Well, you're on this precipice of so many exciting things, you know,

the, the bittersweetness of a project that's about to wrap after six seasons. The new show is out. You're developing this book that sounds absolutely amazing. You know, the kiddos are flourishing. It's a, I would imagine, it can feel really exciting to look forward, despite who knows what it means, where do you go, where do you move? What feels like the work in progress for you as you kind of look out at what's to come over the next year? The work in progress. I think it's really allowing myself the thoughtful time and space to create, like, the next two decades, you know, create it, whatever, like make it so that it's how I truly really want it to be. So it's not, it's not like other people telling me,

should do something or you know uh being heavily influenced whatever i just feel like there's come i've come to a point in my life um uh probably when i turned 40 where i realized i probably sort of got to know myself the most that i've ever gotten to know myself in a really huge way and i think kind of looking back at the last 20 years and realizing that perhaps some of those career decisions or even life decisions on a personal level weren't my own own, that they were navigated maybe not necessarily by me and solely me. I think the next two decades I would like for it to be a different kind of a journey where I'm really focusing on what I want, what I prioritize, and also what brings me joy. I've just kind of

like worked my ass off, which is great. Here I am in this amazing moment, ending an amazing TV show and starting all this other stuff. I don't think I would have got here without working my ass off. But I also, I don't want to work my ass off anymore in that same way. I want to do it for things that, I don't know, that are really special. and meaningful that kind of take me back to my my roots i i just feel like i'm sort of entering this space where i want to honor um honor where i came from in a weird way and i'm not even sure if i'm articulating this in the best way but just that old version of me that used to create and had the theater company and made all the things um and kind of get back into that version of myself

married to the discoveries that I've made where I've landed now in my 40s and kind of go from there and create that space. I love that. I think it's wonderful. And I don't know, every woman that I speak to lately who's kind of in our peer group who's at this stage feels that. Like, oh, I want, it's like a sharper focus that's deeper and, yeah, and more in one's own control.

And I think that's really beautiful. Mm-hmm. Yes, definitely. More in one control, yes. And I can't wait to see what's next. I can't wait just to watch everything. I'm going to have to keep watching the show. show now because it's very good even the horror and I don't get along so I agree with you have to

talk about it and hopefully we'll find a comedy to do so yes hopefully I'm not I'm in agreement I'm not a horror person anymore I used to be but I'm not I'm not a horror person when I've ended up in a horror show but yeah it's yeah it's it's a fun one it's definitely a fun it's really very good thank you so much for coming on today oh thanks for having me this was really fun yeah it's been lovely This is an IHeart podcast.