This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
*The high-stakes world of Apple TV+’s “Your Friends & Neighbors” isn’t just about power plays and hidden scandals; it’s also about the deep, complicated ties of family.
The nine-episode season premiered globally on April 11 with the first two episodes, continuing weekly through May 30. At the emotional core of the series are the Coopers: estranged hedge fund manager Cooper (Jon Hamm), his sister Allie (Lena Hall), and his children Tori (Isabel Gravitt) and Hunter (Donovan Colan). In an exclusive interview, the cast opens up about portraying a family struggling to hold on as everything around them unravels.
Lena Hall on Playing Allie: “She’s the Heart”
Lena Hall’s Allie isn’t just Cooper’s younger sister, she’s his emotional anchor. “They’re siblings and she’s his little sister whom he loves very much,” Hall says. “Allie is like Andy’s heart, like completely. And he protects her under everything he can possibly do.”
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Despite her own personal messiness, Allie brings a grounded perspective to Cooper’s spiraling life. “She knows she needs him, but she can also tell it like it is… She wants to protect him as well,” Hall adds. “Their relationship shows his much softer side, his much more loving side… as opposed to everything else that is seen in this show.”
More than just a sounding board, Allie’s presence gives viewers a glimpse of normalcy in an otherwise high-pressure, high-stakes world.
“Allie is just a complete mess of a person, but also gives good insight into a more normal person in this abnormal situation.”
Isabel Gravitt & Donovan Colan on the Strain of Being a Cooper
For the younger Coopers, life is anything but stable. Isabel Gravitt, who plays Tori, sees the fractured father-daughter bond as central to the show’s emotional tension.
“He starts out with everything and then ends up with nothing… I feel like the family is the nucleus of this show,” Gravitt says, noting that her character is “craving honesty and stability.”
Colan, who portrays younger son Hunter, echoes that longing for clarity and connection.
“We’re being kept in the dark and it’s exhausting… having parents that are doing their own thing and we’re being impacted by their actions,” he says. “During your formative years, I think that’s a lot.”
While the Coopers aren’t fully aware of everything happening behind closed doors, the emotional toll is front and center.
“I think we’re more concerned about our dad as a person,” Gravitt adds. “I want you to be here for us,” she says of Coop. “I want you to be our father.”
What the Cast Hopes Viewers Take Away
For Hall, the show’s themes run much deeper than deception and wealth.
“I’m excited for the storyline and the moral code questions,” she shares. “What’s your moral code? Are you willing to do that? Or, how people are thinking, are behind a character that is doing something that would seem morally wrong… to most others.”
And of course, music plays its part, too. “The music does play a very strong part in this show,” Hall adds. “I’m excited to have the audience go on a musical journey as well.”
With each new episode, “Your Friends & Neighbors” peels back another layer of the Cooper family and the consequences of the secrets they keep.
Watch our full conversation with Lena, Isabel, and Donovan via the clip below.
READ MORE FROM EURWEB.COM: Jonathan Tropper Reveals the Real-Life Inspiration Behind ‘Your Friends & Neighbors’ | EUR Video Exclusive
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