Apple TV's upcoming thriller Lucky wasn't just shaped by its writers; the series also evolved around Anya Taylor-Joy's performance as production got underway. During an exclusive interview with The Direct, showrunner Jonathan Tropper and executive producer Cassie Pappas reflected on the creative process of adapting the novel, including how their previous Apple TV successes informed the series.
They revealed that Taylor-Joy's on-set performance was so compelling that it influenced how certain scenes were written and ultimately appeared on screen. Tropper, known for being the series creator of Your Friends & Neighbors and writing the upcoming blockbuster Star Wars: Starfighter, said he was "captivated" by Taylor-Joy's acting on set, adding that "it was almost like seeing a different human than the human we'd been talking to till that point."
Pappas, a producer and writer on Apple TV's Silo, noted that Taylor-Joy was "captivating" and "mesmerizing:"
"Anya is so captivating, and specifically in a close-up, like when we would go into a close-up on Anya, like more people would show up...to watch the monitor, because it was mesmerizing, and so sometimes we'd realize that...maybe she should say less, because there was something powerful in the quiet and the tension."
She also illustrated how Lucky differs from her past work on Silo, which recently wrapped filming Season 4, saying the new series does not take its time; it's "nonstop the whole way:"
"[With] Silo, we felt like we could do a slow-burn mystery. This is literally the opposite, where it's like your foot is to the pedal and it is nonstop the whole way."
Based on Marissa Stapley's bestselling novel, Lucky is scheduled to premiere two episodes on July 15. Taylor-Joy stars as Lucky Armstrong, a talented con artist who finds herself completely alone after a million-dollar heist goes sideways.
Taylor-Joy is coming off a starring role in Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga and will soon be back on the big screen in Dune: Part Three. She will also officially be joining The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum in 2027.
Tropper and Pappas told The Direct about their experience working on Lucky and why fans should be excited for Taylor-Joy's return to prestige TV.
How Anya-Taylor Joy's Performance Changed Lucky
"It Was Almost Like Seeing a Different Human Than the Human We'd Been Talking to."
- The Direct: "As someone attached from the very beginning, did anything surprise you about Anya Taylor-Joy's performance when bringing the character from page to screen?"
Jonathan Tropper: "I was captivated by it. Also, when you've been working with somebody prior to shooting and you've been doing all the creative work with them, you forget they're the ones who are then going to go on screen and actually embody it, and so it was almost like seeing a different human than the human we'd been talking to till that point, and the other thing you know with Anya is just there's there's something internal with her.
I mean, you forget because she's young...she's been in front of the camera for a long time, and she has an understanding of performance of what she can convey that we're not always thinking of when we're writing, and so it comes to sort of watching her, realizing she has always seen the scene a certain way, and often hopefully we've been in service to that, and once in a while we got a nice surprise of like, 'Oh, that's how she's going to do it.'"
Cassie Pappas: "I learned that sometimes in certain scenes less was more, like we would sometimes, meaning dialog wise, like Anya is so captivating, and specifically in a close-up, like when we would go into a close-up on Anya, like more people would show up at video village to watch the monitor, because it was mesmerizing, and so sometimes we'd realize that maybe we don't, maybe she should say less, like because there was something powerful in the quiet and the tension...That was something we couldn't learn until we were actually there, and cameras were rolling."
How Silo and Your Friends & Neighbors Influenced Lucky
"Your Foot Is to the Pedal and It Is Nonstop the Whole Way."
- The Direct: "What lessons from both your previous work on shows like Silo and Your Friends and Neighbors did you bring into writing Lucky?"
Cassie Pappas: "Well, it's interesting when I started the first work on 'Silo,' we knew that we were going to be doing the trilogy of the 'Silo' books, and so we knew it was going to be a four season show from the beginning, so like in the writer's room of season one, we're like, 'Okay, we're doing the first half of the first book,' and with this we were like, we have an entire book, and how are we going to do this book in a taught propulsive, anxiety-provoking, tense sort of way in seven episodes.
Where silo, we felt like we could do a slow burn mystery. This is literally the opposite, where it's like your foot is to the pedal and it is nonstop the whole way."
Jonathan Tropper: "I had done thrillers before, and I had done action shows before, so that part was really comfortable for me... This was coming in after the actor was already attached, so it was joining a show between Hello Sunshine, Reese Witherspoon, Lauren Levy Neustadter, and Anya, who had already put this together.
It was having to come in and understand their vision before we started putting our own into it, because we were invited in by them. So we had to respect their take on things before we could start developing our own, and then kind of merge the two takes.
So there was a lot more collaboration and cooperation in coming up with with our take on it, whereas normally we would have just jumped in and written a pilot, there was a lot more consideration we had to pay to why did Reese option this book? Why did Anya jump on board? What is it they're looking for? and that was that was a new experience for I think both of us."
Lucky Season 2 Possibilities
"The Door Might be Cracked Open a Little Bit."
- The Direct: "Given how open-endedly the first season concludes, would you be interested in writing a season two?"
Cassie Pappas: "We have no idea if that's going to happen or not. Of course, I would love to have those conversations. In success, you can always have those conversations. But yeah, I agree. I feel like what we tried to do for the finale is we really wanted to tie this up, have no loose ends, but there might just have that hint of a feeling of like just the door might be cracked open a little bit, just in case, but we made sure to really wrap it up."
