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Peacock’s newest thriller The Good Daughter is based on a book — but that doesn’t mean the show didn’t go through changes from source material to screen.
“This one was an odd process because normally what would happen is I would get sent a book and decide to option it and then find a screenwriter. But in this case, we had read Karin Slaughter’s other book,” creator Bruna Papandrea exclusively told Us before the show premiered on Thursday, November 12. “She decided to take a crack at adapting [The Good Daughter] herself and wrote a pilot.”
Slaughter, 55, ultimately wrote the scripts for every episode.
“It was the most amazing process because it was a book I immediately fell in love with. But then one of the things that really impressed me is you don’t meet Rose Byrne’s character in the book until 100 pages in,” Papandrea noted. “Obviously you can’t do that in a TV show.”
The executive producer continued: “Also, in terms of the way we were telling that story and the sisters came back together, you had to find a structural way to change that, which somehow at the end of the first episode she did. For me, that was one of the biggest structural shifts that happened in adaptation.”
Papandrea noted that the show is still “very faithful to the book,” adding, “But also I think the filmmaker becomes a massive part of that and builds the visual language around that, and we were all in from very early on in terms of developing the scripts.”
The Good Daughter picks up 20 years after a violent attack on a family — with sisters Charlotte (Meghann Fahy) and Samantha Quinn (Byrne) still living with the trauma. Charlotte, who has followed her father into law, is the first witness on the scene when another violent attack takes place in their hometown, and ultimately the investigation brings back old memories and family secrets.
In addition to Byrne, 47, and Fahy, 36, the show stars Brendan Gleeson, Harper Steele, Paula Malcomson, Jake McDorman, Olivia Williams and Michael Dorman.
While The Good Daughter is only one book, Papandrea and Steph Green, who directed every episode, didn’t fully shut down the chance of more seasons.
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“I just don’t think when we do anything now. If you’d asked me when we made Big Little Lies if there would be more, I would have said no. It’s like you’ll never get this group of people together again. It was a one-off, right? Cut to where we are now,” Papandrea told Us, referencing the HBO series developing its third season. “This was definitely built as a limited series, that’s for sure. There is a prequel book that Meghann just did the audiobook for that is just centered around Charlie.”
Papandrea wouldn’t mind keeping it a limited series, saying, “I very much like to live in the show we’ve made and let the audience discover it in all its kind of glory. You never discount anything because you know TV shows are so hard to get made and built.”
She continued: “I always say if someone wants to make more, you always have to be open because it’s such an exciting thing to really fall in love with your own characters and the world and the team. I mean, it’s such a beautiful thing to go back again for more.”
The Good Daughter is streaming now on Peacock.
