''Pieces of Her'' is an American thriller

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been ...

streaming television Streaming television is the digital distribution of television content, such as TV shows, as streaming media delivered over the Internet. Streaming television stands in contrast to dedicated terrestrial television delivered by over-the-air aer ...

series created by Charlotte Stoudt, based on the 2018 novel of the same name by

Karin Slaughter Karin Slaughter (born January 6, 1971) is an American Crime fiction, crime writer. She has written 21 novels, which have sold more than 40 million copies and have been published in 120 countries. Her first novel, ''Blindsighted'' (2001), was pub ...

, that premiered on

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...

on March 4, 2022. Between February 27, 2022 and April 3, 2022 the series was watched for 227,470,000 hours on Netflix globally according to Netflix top 10s.

Premise

''Pieces of Her'' follows the story of Andy, a 30-year-old woman who is caught in a deadly mass shooting at a local diner. Moments later, she witnesses her mother, Laura, violently eliminate the threat with ease. As Andy begins to unravel her mother's actions on that day, her perspective on their entire familial relationship takes a new turn. Soon, figures from her mother's past reappear, and she is forced to escape. On the journey, she attempts to find the truth that her mother buried long ago.

Cast and characters

Main

Toni Collette Toni Collette Galafassi (born Toni Collett; 1 November 1972) is an Australian actress, producer, singer, and songwriter. Known for her work in television and independent films, she has received various accolades throughout her career, includ ...

as Laura Oliver, a speech pathologist and breast cancer survivor living in Belle Isle, Georgia who has a dark past. It is later revealed that her real name is Jane Queller. *

Bella Heathcote Isabella Heathcote (born 27 May 1987) is an Australian actress and model. She began her acting career in 2008. The following year, she had a recurring role as Amanda Fowler on the television soap opera '' Neighbours''. Heathcote has since portr ...

as Andy Oliver, Laura's daughter who moved back to take care of her mother *

Omari Hardwick Omari Latif Hardwick (born January 9, 1974) is an American actor known for his starring role as James "Ghost" St. Patrick, the protagonist of Starz's ''Power'' and his role as Vanderohe in Zack Snyder's ''Army of the Dead'' (2021). He is also kn ...

as Gordon Oliver, Laura's ex-husband and Andy's stepfather *

David Wenham David Wenham (born 21 September 1965) is an Australian actor who has appeared in film, television and theatre. He is known for his roles as Faramir in ''The Lord of the Rings'' film trilogy, Friar Carl in ''Van Helsing'', Dilios in ''300'' and ...

as Jasper Queller, the current CEO of Quellcorp *

Jessica Barden Jessica Amy Barden (born 21 July 1992) is an English actress. She began her career as a child actress. She is best known for her role as Alyssa in the Channel 4 comedy-drama ''The End of the F***ing World'' (2017–2019). She received a British ...

as Jane Queller, Laura's younger self in the late 1980s who was daughter of a powerful pharmaceutical CEO *

Jacob Scipio Jacob Muntaz Scipio (born January 10, 1993) is an English actor and writer. In 2016, Scipio co-founded CPO Productions. In that time he has written and starred in ''The Writers Group'' (2018) and ''Cowboys & Angels'' (2016), short films that pre ...

as Michael Vargas, a U.S. Marshal *

Joe Dempsie Joseph Maxwell Dempsie (born 22 June 1987) is an English actor, best known for his roles as Chris Miles in the E4 teen comedy-drama '' Skins'' (2007–2008) and Gendry Baratheon in ''Game of Thrones'' (2011–2013; 2017–2019). Dempsie's e ...

as young Nick Harp, Jane's former lover and the leader of a domestic terrorist group, ''Army of the Changing World'' from the late 1980s

Recurring

Terry O'Quinn Terrance Quinn (born July 15, 1952), known professionally as Terry O'Quinn, is an American actor. He played John Locke on the TV series ''Lost'', the title role in '' The Stepfather'' and ''Stepfather II'', and Peter Watts in ''Millennium'', w ...

as Martin Queller, the founder and former CEO of Quellcorp and the Queller siblings' father *

Gil Birmingham Gil Birmingham (born July 13, 1953) is an American actor known for his role as Tribal Chairman Thomas Rainwater in the Paramount Network's television series ''Yellowstone''. He is also known for his portrayal of Billy Black in '' The Twilight Sag ...

as Charlie Bass, Laura's

Witness Protection Program Witness protection is security provided to a threatened person providing testimonial evidence to the justice system, including defendants and other clients, before, during, and after a trial, usually by police. While a witness may only require p ...

handler *

Aaron Jeffery Aaron C. Jeffery is a Logie Award-winning New Zealand-Australian actor. He is best known for his roles as Terry Watson in '' Water Rats'', as Alex Ryan in ''McLeod's Daughters'', and as Matt "Fletch" Fletcher in ''Wentworth''. Early and personal ...

as Nick (present day), Andy's biological father who has been on the run for 30 years *

Calum Worthy Calum Worthy (born January 28, 1991) is a Canadian actor, writer, and producer, known for his roles as Dez on the Disney Channel series '' Austin & Ally'', Alex Trimboli in the Netflix series ''American Vandal'', Nicholas Godejohn in the Hulu ser ...

as young Jasper, Jasper's younger self in the late 1980s

Production

Development

On February 5, 2019, it was announced that

had given the production an 8-episode series order. The series was created and executive produced by

Lesli Linka Glatter Lesli Linka Glatter (born July 26, 1953) is an American film and television director. She is best known for her work on the AMC drama series ''Mad Men'' and the Showtime series ''Homeland'', for which she's received eight Primetime Emmy Award nomi ...

, Charlotte Stoudt and

Bruna Papandrea Bruna Papandrea (born 1971) is an Australian Film producer, film and television producer and the founder of production company Made Up Stories (company), Made Up Stories. Prior to Made Up Stories (company), Made Up Stories, Papandrea co-founded ...

. Production companies involved with the series consist of Made Up Stories and Endeavor Content. Stoudt is also credited as the writer and showrunner of the series, whilst Minkie Spiro directed all eight episodes. The series premiered on March 4, 2022.

Casting

In February 2020,

and

were cast in starring roles. In May 2020, it was announced that

was cast in a starring role. In January 2021,

, and

joined the main cast. In February 2021,

Terry O’Quinn Terrance Quinn (born July 15, 1952), known professionally as Terry O'Quinn, is an American actor. He played John Locke on the TV series ''Lost'', the title role in '' The Stepfather'' and ''Stepfather II'', and Peter Watts in ''Millennium'', w ...

and

joined the cast in recurring roles. In April 2021, Nicholas Burton and

were cast in recurring capacities.

Filming

Principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as actor ...

for the series was originally expected to begin on March 16, 2020 and conclude on July 17, 2020 in

Burnaby, British Columbia Burnaby is a city in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia, Canada. Located in the centre of the Burrard Peninsula, it neighbours the City of Vancouver to the west, the District of North Vancouver across the confluence of the Burrard Inl ...

. Following an

AU$ The Australian dollar (sign: $; code: AUD) is the currency of Australia, including its external territories: Christmas Island, Cocos (Keeling) Islands, and Norfolk Island. It is officially used as currency by three independent Pacific Island s ...

21.58 million investment from the Australian Government, shared with the production of ''

Spiderhead ''Spiderhead'' is a 2022 American science fiction psychological thriller film directed by Joseph Kosinski, with a screenplay by Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, based on the dystopian short story " Escape from Spiderhead" by George Saunders and f ...

'' to boost the local economy during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, the production was lured to

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

, Australia, where filming took place in early 2021.

Episodes

Reception

The

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

reported a 50% approval rating with an average rating of 5.7/10, based on 34 critic reviews. The website's critics consensus reads, "While

heroically tries to bring ''Pieces of Her'' together, this lumbering mystery is too bogged down by backstory to satisfyingly cohere."

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 52 out of 100 based on 18 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Angie Han writing for ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...

'' praised Collette's performance throughout the series as "fascinating to watch". Han also noted that the series eventually "loses steam" after the first three episodes, describing Heathcote's character as merely "a mechanism propelling the narrative forward" with little to no character development.

References

External links

* * {{Netflix original current series 2020s American drama television series 2022 American television series debuts American thriller television series English-language Netflix original programming Television series about cults Television series by Made Up Stories Television shows based on American novels Television shows filmed in Australia Television shows filmed in Burnaby Television shows set in Georgia (U.S. state) Television shows set in San Francisco