I mean, I don't know if she does, but an actress of her caliber doesn't always audition, and Sarah really came in and fought for this role. I say, someone of Sarah's caliber, she doesn't always audition.
The show the series lives or dies on Billie, and Sarah was incredible. What was the process of casting Sarah? Because I feel like that's a key element of making this whole show work. So, hopefully people will go back and forth over the course of the season.
But again, he's not just the bad boy so that you think, "What are you doing? Be with your husband." And then there's also stuff that's not 100 percent satisfying in her marriage. And like I said, it was really important that it was not an easy choice, and as the season goes on, the layers are peeled back on both of the men and you understand why Brad is the way that he is and what was the trouble in their relationship, but also what was the trauma that he was dealing with. It's so funny you say it like that, because I literally wrote in my notes, Team Brad versus Team Cooper?
I hope that that has people rooting team Billie, whether they're Team Brad or Team Cooper. There's so much vulnerability and truthful emotion there with what she's struggling with. But I think that what's relatable is I think everybody has wondered, what if? And have I made the right choices? And, am I the person I'm supposed to be? And one thing that I think is really important is you see Billie's heart on her sleeve. That it wasn't just an easy answer of what man, or really what version of herself, she should go with. I mean, I think that there's absolutely an element of wish fulfillment and escapism in both her present and her past, and it was important that it was a fair fight. In terms of that, what was key to making it feel relatable? This is something I know the show is in discussion with, but while she has that 85 percent of a pretty good life, what was key to making sure that viewers weren't saying, "Are you sure you're unsatisfied?" It was a chance to try to answer that age-old question, can you have it all? And I connected very personally with the idea of a wife and mom who misses her wild child single days and can't help but wonder, where did that girl go? What was exciting to me was a chance to create a show that was this nostalgia-fueled, sparkly, fever-dream version of the past, and those incredible single-girl-on-the-town nights, but it's also rooted in this deeper exploration of what happens to us as we grow up and become, allegedly, responsible grownups and all the things that we are expected to give up along the way. STACY RUKEYSER: Yeah, so it is inspired by the book, not necessarily based on, but inspired by the book. To start off, I know the series is based on a book, but how did you come to the project and what inspired you to work on it? When Collider spoke with showrunner Stacy Rukeyser about that choice, she had plenty to say about why it was the right place to end the story (for now), with Mad Men as a reference point, and we also dug into Rukeyser's original inspiration for the series, how Shahi fought to be cast as Billie, and that moment in Episode 3 which might be best described as "big." While not greenlit yet for a second season, the first season ends with a dramatic twist - after eight episodes of struggling with her desires, she goes to Brad for sex, but not for love. Instead, she's becoming fixated on memories of her previous life, especially memories of her ex-boyfriend Brad ( Adam Demos), and when those memories start to intersect with the present day in unexpected ways, her entire world gets turned upside down. The show focuses on Billie ( Sarah Shahi), a woman confronting the fact that while she's a wife and mother of two living in a beautiful house in the suburbs, she's not satisfied by her life with Cooper ( Mike Vogel). Let's be very clear about it: If you were worried that Sex/Life would be found lacking in the first part of its title, the first season of the new Netflix drama will quickly prove you wrong.