Frances Neagley may be the name above the door, but Neagley quickly expands its world beyond the formidable private investigator audiences came to know through Reacher. As a suspicious death from her past pulls Neagley (Maria Sten) into an increasingly dangerous investigation, she crosses paths with Keno (Jasper Jones) and Renee Birdwhistle (Adeline Rudolph), two characters carrying very different histories. Keno’s criminal past means he’s accustomed to a world that has already made assumptions about him, while Renee’s confidence and determination mask both her inexperience and a more personal reason for being in Chicago.
Speaking with our Peter Gray ahead of the show’s release, Jones and Rudolph discussed the difference between who Renee and Keno really are and how the world perceives them, the ways they each try to prove themselves, and the vulnerabilities they would rather keep hidden. They also reflected on entering the orbit of someone as perceptive as Neagley, whose ability to quickly assess whether someone is competent, useful or trustworthy makes concealing those vulnerabilities increasingly difficult.
Congratulations on the show. First of all, I’m annoyingly addicted to it, as I was with Reacher. I wanted to ask both of you, because Renee and Keno enter this story carrying almost an invisible résumé of things other people have decided about them – her as a woman in a male-dominated environment, him because of his criminal past. Did you see them as characters trying to prove other people wrong, or is the more interesting journey getting to the point where they no longer need to?
Jasper Jones: For Keno, I think there is a bit of that – trying to prove almost society as a whole, if you group it together, or that mentality, wrong. But also, a lot of that is internalized, so it is part of him and his inner dialogue. But it does manifest in trying to prove something, you know? So I think that’s kind of on the nose.
Adeline Rudolph: Yeah, I think for Renee, there’s less of this idea of her trying to prove herself. I think, off the bat, it’s very clear that she and Neagley don’t really get along as people. They’re both lone wolves. They both like to do their own thing. A lot of Renee’s motivation actually comes from an ulterior motive, right? She has a purpose for being in Chicago, in the States. So, if anything, more so than having to justify or prove her past, I actually think she has this tunnel vision and this goal of learning as much as she can from Neagley in terms of her skill set in order to – I’m trying not to spoil anything – figure out how to find answers for the thing she’s trying to do.
What’s interesting about both of these characters is that people can make a judgment about them before they’ve done anything, whether that’s because of gender, history or reputation. As actors, how much did you think about the difference between who Renee and Keno actually are and the version of them they’re accustomed to seeing reflected back by other people?
Jasper Jones: Well, I think a lot of thought went into it because what the world is telling you about yourself, regardless of whether you believe it or not, is something that you’re seeing. And if you see something, it has the opportunity to affect you. So, yeah, I think a lot of it.
But honestly, I think there are also other really important things, because once you have that information about how the world is, you know, putting you in a box or whatever, I think it’s a lot about what you do with that and how you handle it. That’s where a lot of the inspiration for Keno came from for me.
Adeline Rudolph: Yeah, I think for Renee, I wasn’t necessarily so worried about how people would perceive her being in this workforce, just because we have such an incredibly strong female character like Neagley, who exists in this world, is super badass and does her own thing. For me, especially in this universe, it’s not uncommon to see.
So I think it was less about Renee trying to, again, pull her own weight as a woman in this industry. I think she’s just on her journey. She’s trying to figure out a way to find some answers for herself, learn as much as she can, and ideally learn from the person who is the best at doing it, which is Neagley.
And this might be a bit unusual, and I hope it’s a question that can be worded around certain reveals, but Neagley is someone who seems to assess people very quickly – whether they’re competent, whether they’re useful, whether she can trust them. If Renee and Keno know they’re being assessed by someone like that, what do you think each of them most desperately doesn’t want Neagley to notice about them?
Jasper Jones: Oh, how badly I need what she has, which is basic things, like food. You know, the day-to-day things. Like, “Oh, could I get 10 bucks?” She probably knows, but I would be showing that I could leave the negotiation right now. And in some ways I can, but really it’s like that chicken and waffles, that cereal – it’s hidden, you know?
Adeline Rudolph: I think for Renee, she’s most afraid of Neagley – which, again, it’s inevitable that Neagley would know and see it – noticing her inexperience. Because I think she tries very hard. As soon as Neagley offers her one task, she’s like, “I’m on it. I’m in. I got this. I can do this.”
And so she kind of puts herself in a position where she can learn more from Neagley. I think the other thing she doesn’t really want Neagley to see is the fact that she’s quite vulnerable, and she’s got this pain and this hurt because of, again, the reason why she’s in the States in the first place. So I think she puts on this hard shell in the same way that all the characters do in this season. But obviously, that would be the thing she doesn’t want to admit to because she doesn’t trust anyone.
All episodes of Neagley Season 1 are now streaming on Prime Video.
