Earth Abides star Jessica Frances Dukes shared new insight into her work on the show and what the future holds for her in other film universes.
MGM+'s Earth Abides is based on the same-named book by George R. Stewart. It tells the story of a post-apocalyptic world that fell prey to a deadly disease in the 1940s as one man emerges from isolation in the woods to find nearly everybody else dead.
The series reimagines the book by using a 21st-century/modern-day setting, utilizing almost all of the same plot points as a new civilization is reborn from the traumatic event.
The Direct's Richard Nebens had the wonderful opportunity to chat with series co-lead Jessica Frances Dukes, who dove into details about production and how well the cast and crew worked with one another.
Earth Abides' Emma Star on Ending Spoilers
"I Feel Like That’s Exactly How Ish and Emma Start. You Know, I Think It’s Who They Are."
- The Direct: "Going into real spoilers, with the Joey thing at the very end. It's obviously heartbreaking at the end when you see what happens to Joey at the very end of the series, but the show still manages to end on kind of a high note, kind of a positive note. But for the end of it, was that important for you guys to kind of end it on a high note after something obviously so tragic?"
Jessica Frances Dukes: "It''s an interesting sort of circle of events. I feel like that's exactly how Ish and Emma start. You know, I think it's who they are. I think that ish becomes more of that with Emma, but Emma says it. In her first episode, or they did say, keep it vague. So sorry, so I'm keeping it vague, but I think it's very important for them to move forward, always in a place of positivity, because nothing is promised, and I think that the decisions that they make as a couple are already a risk. You know, they're already, they don't. This world has no doctors. This world has no, you know, there is no full-fledged medicine that we have access to. So to even decide to bring a child into the world, I think, is already a risk that they're taking. So, yeah, I think that they are a beautiful sort of example of moving forward, even through, even through trauma."
Jessica Frances Dukes on Earth Abides' Inspiration from COVID-19 Pandemic
"We Had Experienced a Little Bit of Isolation to a Certain Extent."
- The Direct: "One thing that I found really interesting, especially during this time is it deals with like a global pandemic, and it deals with like a virus that wipes out a lot of people on Earth, which is, strangely enough, not too dissimilar from what we've been dealing with in real life with COVID and everything. You and your castmates, were you able to take anything that you've experienced in real life with this kind of thing and kind of apply it to what you were doing in the series and anything like that?"
Jessica Frances Dukes: "Absolutely, I think...the biggest thing that we all had in common was that we had experienced a little bit of isolation to a certain extent. And, you know, it's one thing to choose isolation, like Ish does in Episode 1, but it's another thing when it's forced upon you, and you start to learn things about yourself that you might not have known before.
For me, it was a huge moment during the pandemic when I couldn't get to my parents, and I didn't realize, you know, I love my parents. I very much so love my parents, but I didn't realize how much when I couldn't get to them, that I was like, I have seen y'all. I don't need to see y'all another month or whatever. But then when the pandemic happened, I was like, I the first thing I wanted to do was protect them. You know what I mean? So, so it really shows you who you are. So we all kind of shared our stories about, you know, how it affected us?"
Jessica Frances Dukes Reflects on Earth Abides' Real Animals on Set
"All of Them Were real...the Bison Was Beautiful."
- The Direct: "There's a huge connection with nature and the animal life in this show, especially since the opening scene is Ish getting bit by a rattlesnake and getting knocked out for months. But you guys, your dog, and so many of the animals that you guys have seen across the course of all six episodes...did you find yourself connecting more to nature and the world around you through that experience?"
Jessica Frances Dukes: "No, when I read this script and I read the first episode, and I just love the language so much, and then I read Emma, and I was like, I finally get to play me. I love animals so much, like I rode horses as a girl, like I, I grew up with animals, you know, like I loved animals so much. I had parakeets. I love animals so much, so I already was an animal lover.
But to be on this set and to see a bison and to, you know, get to see all the little creatures that we got to interact with, to walk around set holding chickens. It was just amazing. Even the little rats. I never thought I'd say a rat was cute, but it's, they're cute. They're really cute. So I loved it, but I'm already a nature girl. I love hiking. I love being in the elements.
You know, I'm I just love gardens. I love planting. So all the things that I got to do in this show, it's like I was on this little personal, little oasis with nature was absolutely perfect and right on brand for who I am."
- The Direct: "How many of those were real? It seemed like a lot of the animals in there were actually there with you on set, the rats and the dogs and everything. But even the bison and stuff, how real did you get to go with that?"
Jessica Frances Dukes: "All of them were real. Yeah, yeah, the bison was beautiful. He was massive. His name was Stanley. He was huge. He was absolutely beautiful."
Earth Abides Show's Authenticity to Original Book
"I Fell in Love With the Way George R. Stewart Explains Emma."
- The Direct: This show is adapted from a book by George R. Stewart. Aside from it being set in a more modern-day setting than the original, which took place in the '40s and '50s, was there anything about either your character or the story itself that you really wanted to see adapted faithfully? Assuming that you guys made sure to do that as much as you guys could."
Jessica Frances Dukes: "Yeah, I fell in love with the way George R. Stewart explains Emma. He calls her mother of nations. He compares her to Demeter and ISIS, and he calls her all these goddesses. So I was like, okay, and she is, you know, passing in the book. So there's this sort of forward movement thinking that he had in 1949 of this woman, he created this half-angel, half-human. She's just this massive piece of perfection to me. And I was like, 'How the hell am I gonna play that?'
Then I started to look up, you know, who are the goddesses that I am close to. And I looked up all the goddesses that he mentions. And I was like, 'Okay, so who is that woman now in 2024, and, and what can I bring to her that that honors who she was in the book,' because she's so special in the book and and I just wanted to bring her her love, like she's just so loving.
She's just accepting, and that is, I think, especially in today's time, very hard, because we've been through so much. We've seen so much, so to play a character who has been through the worst, who has seen the worst, and can still move with love. First, it was an honor to play, and I just wanted to protect her the entire way of shooting. And even now, as I watch her, I'm like, Oh, wow, she's mine, but now she's no longer mine. She's you guys' now, yeah."
Earth Abides Star on Dark Tone of MGM+ Show
"It Was Actually Really Hard To Find the Balance of That."
- The Direct: "This is a dark show, you guys are at the end of the world, and you have to start over from scratch, basically. Was it a challenge for you to kind of get into that headspace of things being that dark and that dire? And then also, did it kind of help that you were playing this kind of light at the end of the tunnel in terms of your character and everything."
Jessica Frances Dukes: "No, it was actually really hard to find the balance of that. You know, how do you play someone who has lost everything, who is truly, you know, in pain inside, but choosing to not interact with it. You know, she says guilt is useless. You know, guilt is all weight and no wings, and so to have that, that energy in her, but also to choose to not, you know, go past it. There are moments when she fails, obviously, and there are moments when she's very wrong and she's very flawed, but it was very hard to find the balance.
Because for me, I was like, she's lost everything. How am I smiling? How am I making jokes? She lost two kids. Yeah, she lost everything. So it's like, what? How do you do that? You know, Jessica would, it would take me years to do that, and she does it pretty. Effortlessly. But I think she's one of those people that was chosen for a reason to take on, to be this, you know, to take on this journey, to go on this journey. And I think she is purposefully there to help ish go on his journey, yeah."
Emma Actor Connecting to Her Earth Abides Character
"I Think She Questions That Daily. Like...’Why Me?’ You Know? ‘Why Am I the Last Person Left?'"
- The Direct: "Because both of you guys have dealt with so much, and we see it from different sides — you being the optimist and Ish being more down to Earth, trying to figure out how to get through everything. What is it about Emma that kind of lets her be so optimistic and, like, look at things in such a positive light, even though, like you said, She's lost everything and then some."
Jessica Frances Dukes: "Yeah, think that she for me, I chose that she knew she was here for a reason, and that there had to be some reason why she lost everything. I think some people look at purpose in a different way than others do, and I think she's been trying to find her purpose. And I think in meeting is she finds her purpose. And I think that she is the type of person to go. It must be this journey, so I'm going to make it the best journey I possibly can.
And then as we go forward, I think it's, um, there's a reason why she's meant to she's meant to be there. She saves, you know, I don't know when this is going to come out, so I don't want to spoil things, but she saves so many people. But she saved so many people. She saved so many souls. And in my thoughts and opinions, yeah, and we could talk a little bit of spoilers, because, I mean, she really does, over the last, like, over the last four episodes that we haven't seen yet. She really dives in, does that.
And I think you cut it for a second, but, like, but you were just basically saying that she is there for a reason, to save people, to save ish and like, and just to be that light for everybody, right? Because she says she's like, Do you ever wonder why it with, why we're still here, right? She wonders about that daily. I think she questions that daily. Like...'why me? You know? Why am I the last person left?' Because for a whole year, she was the last person left. So I think that that constant question of why is so important, and I just imagine her, you know, looking at the trees and being with the animals and sitting on the ocean and just contemplating that for an entire year."
Emma Star on Pregnancy Scenes, Playing Old and Young Emma
"It Was an Absolute Joy and an Absolute Mind Screw."
- The Direct: "This show goes on a 20-year journey from start to finish. You and Alex both played going from young adults to parents to parents of teenagers by the end of this whole thing. What was that experience like for you? Playing such a wide range of years and like, and going through all that together.
Jessica Frances Dukes: "It was an absolute joy and an absolute mind screw, because it's like, you know, you're on set and you've got this belly and this, it's this beautiful, nurturing woman that you're playing. Then all of a sudden there's an infant in your hand, and then all of a sudden there's a three and five year old, and then there's like, 14, and it's just like you by the time we get to the place that we get to, and we deal with the things that we deal with, I have such a memory of my children, you know, because I've seen them at every stage and close to it, you know. So my relationship with, well, I could say, you know, Emma's relationship with the kids in the show, she held them literally, you know?
I mean, I think that that's a big thing for me as an actor. That was such a plus, like I can look at, you know, Joey in a very specific way, because I held him as an infant, you know, because I picked him up as a little, you know, two-year-old. So there it was. It was hard and easy at the same time because I literally could look at Heather and remember that birthing scene, you know? So there it was, a really beautiful way that it was, it was done, and it felt wonderful, yeah, for sure."
- The Direct: "Yeah, and we see that in the last episode that just aired. They had to have a kid all on their own and try to figure that out with no help whatsoever. I'm sure that was a that was a challenge, like for everybody, and I'm sure, in terms of just filming and figuring that out and everything."
Jessica Frances Dukes: "Yeah, luckily, we had two people on set that had natural births in their home, and so they were so wonderful, you know, at talking to us through it and really expressing sort of what the process was. Both of us had, I've seen a birth, and Alex, of course, has a child. So, oh, now too, you know? So it's a wonderful thing where the entire community that was on set kind of came together, even the fathers, you know what I mean, the mothers on set, everybody came together. Really helped us through it."
Earth Abides' Jessica Frances Dukes Praises Chemistry with Co-Star
"You Know, It Was Instant. It Was Absolutely Instant."
- The Direct: "The show is really built on, obviously, the chemistry that you and Alex have as a couple and as actors and everything. Um, what was that like, building that chemistry on set with onset, with him during all this deep, dark stuff, because you guys really do carry the show the whole way through?"
Jessica Frances Dukes: "Thank you very much. You know it was instant. It was absolutely instant. I want to just applaud and thank and you know, the creators of this show, as well as the casting director, Seth Yanklewitz, when they put these two together, I think there was, it was just, it was a perfect connection. Day 1, both of us were so heart first. Both of us were like, hey, you know what do you want to do? This is, let's just play. And there was no like, oh, let's get to know each other, or let's sit down and talk about this scene, and let's write in. It was just like, right in the table read. Day 1, both of us, like, turn our chairs to each other, like we are about to go on a massive journey, like I can't do it alone.
It's like that birthing moment where it's just like, I can't do this by myself. I think both of us were just like, Okay. And then also, you know, I think Alex was so excited to have someone to talk to after Episode 1. Was like, oh my god, somebody to talk to, you know, but we just, we're both similar people and that were people, people, you know, we love to talk, we love to connect. We love that. But then we have the, the perfect opposite to where he's this, you know, flickering fire and I'm this sort of rock, and it just worked for the two of us. And we never had to prepare anything. We literally, all we did was just talk to each other and share as ish and Emma. And what you see on the screen is literally what happens in between that."
Jessica Frances Dukes Teases Role in The Gilded Age
"I Play Athena Trumbo. She Is the Cousin to Audra McDonald’s Character, Dorothy..."
- The Direct: "One of the big things that people are asking about is you just got cast in 'The Gilded Age,' which is coming out for Season 3 if I'm not mistaken, everybody's super excited about that. I know filming just started. Is there anything you can tell us about, like your role in that series, or any timeframe on when it might come out? I know you probably can't spoil too much, but anything at all."
Jessica Frances Dukes: "What I can say is, I play Athena Trumbo. She is the cousin to Audra McDonald's character, Dorothy, and there's a new sort of world that opens up this season or expands this season. So that's all I can say. I had an amazing time. I still have a few things to do, but it's been a wonderful, wonderful journey. I don't know when it's coming out. I don't even know that information to tell you I left 'Earth Abides' on a Friday and on Tuesday, I was in 1876 so I was like, it was a full-on trip, but I loved everybody. Everybody was wonderful. And a girl coming from the theater community to be on a set with nothing but theater, oh, it was just wonderful."
Jessica Frances Dukes on Possible MCU Return
"I Would Want To Play in Both Worlds. I’m Like, DC and Marvel, Let’s Go..."
- The Direct: "Well, we're all very much looking forward to that. One last question for me and a lot of other people. I'm a Marvel fan, and we got to see you in 'Jessica Jones' a few years back, the last season of the Netflix shows. Obviously, those characters are kind of being reincorporated into the MCU, and we're waiting on Jessica, but is that a world that you would want to revisit, or is there another role that you would want to play besides Grace in that show like as the MCU kind of expands bigger and bigger?"
Jessica Frances Dukes: "I think that any fantastic world I am obsessed with, I think that's why I was so excited to get 'Earth Abides' to it's like, I love epic adventures coming from the theater and doing Shakespeare and the Greeks and all of that. You know, I love the shows that are just large and in charge. So it was a joy to be a part of Marvel. I'm a huge Marvel fan. I think it might come back like I would want to. I would want to play in both worlds. I'm like, DC and Marvel, let's go because, you know, one of my favorites is Vixen, but we can go there. That's a whole other conversation. I feel like Emma. You know, Emma could, you know, that's, that's a little vixen in there. But no, but I think MCU, there's so many wonderful people that I would love to come back as, but we shall see. Like that's that world well."
All six episodes of Earth Abides are now streaming on MGM+.
