When Karin Slaughter took the big leap from author to TV series boss over herhit 2017 novel "The Good Daughter," the bestselling crime novelist immediately wielded her greatest strength: Writing.
The Georgia native, 55, whose novels have already inspired Netflix's "Pieces of Her" and ABC's series "Will Trent,"penned heartfelt, personal letters to assemble her dream cast for the Peacock series (now streaming). The international crew includes Irish icon Brendan Gleeson as family patriarch Rusty Quinn, British actress Olivia Williams as his wife, Gamma Quinn, American actress Meghann Fahyas grown daughter Charlie and Australian star Rose Byrneas her estranged sister, Sam.
"I wrote letters to all of them," Slaughter tells USA TODAY. "And they were
really genuine letters. Olivia said she's had lots of smoke blown up her a-- in her career, but this was the best smoke. Because it came from the heart."
Assembling her dream cast was only part of the challenge. For the first time, Slaughter took on the demanding job of running her own television series, writing all six episodes while serving as creator, executive producer and showrunner.
It's a leap few bestselling novelists have made. Gillian Flynn ("Gone Girl") took the reins of Amazon's "Utopia," for example, while Jenny Han became co-showrunner of the Amazon series "The Summer I Turned Pretty," adapted from her own 2009 novel.
Slaughter had initially turned down the invitation to try her hand at screenwriting from Australian film producer Bruna Papandrea ("Big Little Lies"), who worked on Slaughter's "Pieces of Her."
"I said, 'Absolutely not! I don't have time,'" the prolific author recalls saying about penning her own script. "And then I started thinking about it, and I did it in secret."
The below-the-radar effort at adapting her own novel went so well that Slaughter eventually admitted working on it and wouldn't let Papandrea option the rights for "The Good Daughter" until she was finished.
"I said, 'I think I can land this plane,'" Slaughter says. "And we were off from there."
Casting the series was the usual complicated dance, and crucial for the adaptation of Slaughter's novel about two estranged sisters, Charlie (Fahy) and Sam (Byrne), forced to confront the violent tragedy that shattered their family decades earlier.
Slaughter had originally wanted Byrne for the pivotal Sam role, but the actress became unavailable due to commitments to her Apple TV+ series "Physical." Jessica Biel was subsequently attached to star, only to depart for another television adaptation, "The Better Sister," based on a novel by Slaughter's friend Alafair Burke.
"I couldn't be mad when [Biel] decided to do 'The Better Sister' because my friend wrote that. I was really happy for Alafair," says Slaughter, who seized the opportunity to pursue the suddenly available Byrne. "I was like, 'Give me Rose. She'd be perfect for this.'"
Byrne says having the woman who created her character running the series was a luxury.
"You get spoiled in a way. I'm a question asker, so I would always be like, 'Why did she do that?'" Byrne says. "Karin is just candid and goes head-to-head with you. She's protective of the characters. And then I would become protective, too."
Slaughter insists she wasn't overly precious about her literary creation, a lesson reinforced by her experience bringing "Will Trent" to TV. For example, her books' main character is a tall, lanky Scandinavian-looking man, far different from Puerto Rican actor Ramón Rodríguez, who plays the titular character in the ABC series, heading towards Season 5.
"Ramón is so good," Slaughter says. "He gets to the heart of the character."
On "Good Daughter," Slaughter showed she could compromise, including a crucial fire scene from the novel that was scaled back. Slaughter realized the extensive cost of staging the full blaze would be better spent elsewhere.
"I was just like, 'Oh my God, if we do this fire, we're gonna have to have fire trucks and ambulances.' It was like ka-ching, ka-ching," Slaughter says. She eventually opted for a much more contained roof fire. "There was fire and smoke shooting out of the panels. I couldn't believe the homeowners let us do it. But it so works. And we spent the money on something needed, like another day of shooting."
There were some things Slaughter absolutely insisted on, including an extravagant Mercedes-MaybachS 680 Sedan for Byrne's wealthy New York lawyer. Naturally, Slaughter wrote another letter – this time to the automaker – to secure the approximately $250,000 luxury vehicle for the shoot.
"There were more rules in that car's contract than any of our stars," Slaughter says. "There were rules about who could sit in it, and what we could specifically do to it. Because we basically had to take it apart to get a camera in there."
But the work and expense were worth it for key scenes that spoke to Sam.
"I just wanted a car that said, '[expletive]-you money,'" Slaughter says, apologizing for the curse. "It's such a beautiful car. Even if you don't know what it is, the feel of it is so rich and foreign."
Contributing: Erin Jensen
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'Good Daughter' creator cut epic fire, but not Rose Byrne's $250K Mercedes
