Mare of Easttown

''Mare of Easttown'' is an American crime drama limited series created and written by Brad Ingelsby for HBO. Directed by Craig Zobel, the series premiered on April 18, 2021, and concluded on May 30, 2021, consisting of seven episodes. It stars Kate Winslet as the title character, a detective investigating a murder in a small town near Philadelphia. Julianne Nicholson, Jean Smart, Angourie Rice, Evan Peters, Sosie Bacon, David Denman, Neal Huff, James McArdle, Guy Pearce, Cailee Spaeny, John Douglas Thompson, and Joe Tippett appear in supporting roles.

''Mare of Easttown'' was acclaimed by critics, who lauded its story, characters, acting, and representation of women. The series received 16 nominations at the 73rd Primetime Emmy Awards and won four, including Outstanding Lead Actress for Winslet, Outstanding Supporting Actor for Peters, and Outstanding Supporting Actress for Nicholson.

Premise

In a suburb of Philadelphia, police detective Marianne "Mare" Sheehan investigates the recent murder of a teenage mother while trying to keep her own life from falling apart. Mare is a local hero, having been the star of a high school basketball championship game 25 years earlier. She has also been unable to solve the case of another missing young girl for a year, leading many in the community to doubt her detective skills. Her personal troubles include a divorce, a son lost to suicide, and a custody battle with her son’s formerly heroin addicted girlfriend over Mare's grandson.

Cast and characters

Main

*Kate Winslet as Marianne "Mare" Sheehan, a detective sergeant in Easttown, Pennsylvania, who is investigating the murder of one young girl and the disappearance of another
*Julianne Nicholson as Lori Ross, Mare's closest friend
*Jean Smart as Helen Fahey, Mare's mother
*Angourie Rice as Siobhan Sheehan, Mare's daughter
*David Denman as Frank Sheehan, Mare's ex-husband
*Neal Huff as Father Dan Hastings, Mare's cousin, a Catholic priest and the pastor of St. Michael's Church
*Guy Pearce as Richard Ryan, an author and creative writing professor
*Cailee Spaeny as Erin McMenamin, a teenage single mother who is treated badly by her ex-boyfriend
*John Douglas Thompson as Chief Carter, Mare's boss at the police department
*Joe Tippett as John Ross, Lori's husband and cousin of Erin's father Kenny
*Evan Peters as Detective Colin Zabel, the county detective called in to assist Mare
*Sosie Bacon as Carrie Layden, the mother of Mare's grandson Drew and ex-girlfriend of Mare's deceased son Kevin
*James McArdle as Deacon Mark Burton, a Catholic deacon reassigned to St. Michael's after sexual misconduct allegations at his previous parish

Supporting

*Kate Arrington as Faye, Frank's fiancée
*Ruby Cruz as Jess Riley, Erin's best friend
*Ned Eisenberg as Detective Hauser, a county detective
*Enid Graham as Dawn Bailey, an Easttown resident whose daughter, Katie, has been missing for over a year
*Deborah Hedwall as Judy Zabel, Colin's mother with whom he lives
*Caitlin Houlahan as Katie Bailey, a girl who went missing from Easttown a year prior
*Cameron Mann as Ryan Ross, Lori and John's son
*Jack Mulhern as Dylan Hinchey, Erin's ex-boyfriend
* Patrick Murney as Kenny McMenamin, Erin's father
*Chinasa Ogbuagu as Beth Hanlon, Freddie's sister and Mare and Dawn's close friend
*Phyllis Somerville as Betty Carroll, an elderly Easttown resident; this was Somerville's final role before her death in 2020
*Robbie Tann as Billy Ross, John's brother, Lori's brother-in-law and Kenny's cousin
*Madeline Weinstein as Becca, Siobhan's stoner girlfriend

Other

*Rosa Arredondo as Tammy, a former sex worker and friend of Mare's who works as an informant for her
*Debbie Campbell as Katherine Hinchey, Dylan's mother
*Gordon Clapp as Pat Ross, John and Billy’s father
*Eisa Davis as Gayle Graham, Mare's therapist
*Sasha Frolova as Missy Sager, an escort
*Jeremy Gabriel as Steve Hinchey, Dylan's father
*Connie Giordano as Patty Del Rasso, Brianna's mother
*Justin Hurtt-Dunkley as Officer Trammel
*Dominique Johnson as Freddie Hanlon, Beth's opioid-addicted brother
*Izzy King as Drew Sheehan, Mare's grandson, born to her son Kevin and his girlfriend Carrie Layden
*Cody Kostro as Kevin Sheehan, Mare's late son who died by suicide prior to the events of the series
*Jeb Kreager as Wayne Potts, a resident of Easttown
*Katie Kreisler as Trish Riley, Jess' mother
*Mackenzie Lansing as Brianna Del Rasso, Dylan's girlfriend
*Patrick McDade as Glen Carroll, Betty's husband
*Kiah McKirnan as Anne Harris, a DJ at the Haverford College radio show where Siobhan's band performs
*Patsy Meck as Jan Kelly, an employee at the Easttown police station
*Eric T. Miller as Tony Del Rasso, Brianna's father, a restaurant owner
*Kassie Mundhenk as Moira Ross, Lori and John's daughter, who has Down syndrome
*Anthony Norman as Nathan Forde, a member of Siobhan's band
*Drew Scheid as Geoff Gabeheart, one of Siobhan's friends, drummer in Siobhan's band Androgynous
*Sadat Waddy as Sean, Dylan's friend

Episodes

Production

Development

In January 2019, it was reported that Brad Ingelsby, creator of the limited series, would write all episodes, with Gavin O'Connor directing. Executive producers include Ingelsby, O'Connor, Kate Winslet, Paul Lee, Mark Roybal, and Gordon Gray. In January 2020, it was announced that Craig Zobel would replace O'Connor as director due to scheduling issues and also serve as executive producer.

Regarding the setting, Ingelsby stated "sort of an amalgam" which he explained "It’s Coatesville, it’s Aston, it’s Drexel Hill." Ingelsby stated that he chose the name Easttown because "it sounded like such a generic town name."

Casting

It was announced in January 2019 that Kate Winslet had been cast to star in the HBO miniseries that would be filmed on location in suburban Philadelphia. In September 2019, the cast was rounded out with Julianne Nicholson, Jean Smart, Angourie Rice, Evan Peters, Cailee Spaeny and David Denman. John Douglas Thompson, Patrick Murney, Ben Miles, Katie Kreisler, James McArdle, Sosie Bacon, Joe Tippett, Neal Huff were cast in October 2019. In February 2021, it was announced that Guy Pearce joined the cast, replacing Miles in his role. In the same month, Mackenzie Lansing, Kate Arrington, Ruby Cruz, James Easter Bradford, Elisa Davis, Enid Graham, Justin Hurtt-Dunkley, Izzy King, Jack Mulhern, Anthony Norman, Drew Scheid, and Madeline Weinstein were cast in the limited series.

Filming

Filming of the show began in the fall of 2019 around suburban Philadelphia and was reported to still be in progress as of March 2020, with plans to continue through April. However, production was shut down early due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In early September 2020, a Philadelphia news station reported that filming was set to resume within the month.

Because the story is set in a fictionalized version of Easttown Township in Chester County, Pennsylvania, where series creator Brad Ingelsby was born (the show moves the location east to Delaware County, which is adjacent to Easttown Twp), there were discussions about whether to use the "Delco accent", a version of Philadelphia English common in Delaware County. It was Winslet who insisted that the accent be used, despite being a particularly difficult accent to learn, because she felt the community itself was an important character in the story, and the authentic accent would help emphasize that. "There were a lot of things I could have really leant into that would have made it sound like I was doing something a bit gimmicky and I didn't want that to happen," Winslet said. "So I just had to drill it and drill it and drill it." She claimed that learning the accent was so difficult that it caused her to "throw things". A dialect coach named Susanne Sulby assisted the actors.

Filming locations include a train station and high-school gymnasium in Coatesville, Pennsylvania (a city in Chester County), and an American Legion hall in Ogden, a community in Delaware County. Inglesby has said that many of the filming locations were around Aston Township, in Delaware County. Winslet reportedly said that, while filming the show, she became obsessed with Wawa convenience stores. "Wawa was a big part of my life for well over a year," she said. Wawa stores were used as scouting locations for the production's costume designers.

Release

The seven-episode limited series premiered on April 18, 2021, and concluded on May 30, 2021. The limited series was released on Blu-ray and DVD by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment on September 14, 2021.

Reception

Critical response

''Mare of Easttown'' received critical acclaim. On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the series has an approval rating of 95% based on 128 reviews, with an average rating of 8.1/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "Grounded by a career-best Kate Winslet, ''Mare of Easttown''s ambitions at times exceed its reach, but its central mystery is supported by such strong sense of place and character it hardly matters." On Metacritic, the series has a weighted average score of 81 out of 100 based on reviews from 42 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".

Winslet received widespread praise for her performance, including from Lucy Mangan of ''The Guardian'' who wrote, "If you can have a defining performance this late in a career, this is surely Winslet's. She is absolutely wonderful." Alex Abad-Santos of '' Vox'' described Winslet's performance as "mesmerizing", adding that "she allows us to see the ugliness Mare is capable of and how obsessive, perhaps even abusive, she can be when she's threatened." ''The Wall Street Journal''s Dorothy Rabinowitz noted "Winslet's eloquent command of the role is obvious from the outset". Ben Travers of ''IndieWire'' wrote, "Winslet's immersed performance could carry a far lesser work by itself", while adding that her East American dialect is "convincing and her physical work is flawless." Richard Roeper of the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' declared, "Winslet adds to a long list of magnificent, disappear-into-the-character performances...one of the most resonant performances of her career." Caryn James of the BBC
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