ComingSoon Editor-in-Chief Tyler Treese spoke to Bodkin stars Will Forte, Siobhán Cullen, and Robyn Cara about their characters in the Netflix thriller series, which revolves around true-crime podcasters stumbling upon a conspiracy. All seven episodes of the series will be released on the streamer on May 9, 2024.
“Bodkin is a dark comedic thriller about a motley crew of podcasters (Will Forte, Siobhán Cullen, Robyn Cara) who set out to investigate the mysterious disappearance of three strangers in a quaint, coastal Irish town. But once they start pulling at threads, they discover a story much bigger and weirder than they could have ever imagined,” says the synopsis. “As our heroes try to discern fact from fiction — about the case, about their colleagues, and, most painfully, themselves — the series challenges our perception of truth and exposes the stories we tell ourselves to justify our beliefs or validate our fears.”
Tyler Treese: Will, this show’s definitely comedic and in a very dark way, but you get to show so much great emotion as your character, Gilbert, as well, especially when you’re opening up about Gilbert’s wife. I thought those were some of the best scenes. So what was most rewarding about really getting to show your full range here?
Will Forte: I mean, these scripts were so beautifully written that it’s hard to not do a good job acting them. They really set you up to do it well. It’s exciting being somebody who came from comedy, getting a chance to do scenes that are like this. But really, it does help when they help you out with the words and the situations so much, it really does give you a leg up. I definitely could not do it without the wonderful words and the people that you’re acting with.
Siobhán Cullen: You’re being modest. You’re so good, those scenes are special.
Robyn Cara: They’re really great.
Siobhan, your character, Dove, is this great investigative journalist, but she’s definitely putting her job and story first here. She’s this great ice queen. There’s a coldness to her. How is it when you have such a nice and friendly cast, but you’re being rude to them throughout? Some of your lines are hilarious,
Cullen: It comes very naturally to me. No, I’m joking.
But it is kind of fun to get to play those kind of parts, particularly when you maybe don’t necessarily kind of connect with them on that level if it’s a total departure from what I hope is your natural disposition. It’s great, and I think there’s a real freedom in kind of getting to play someone who doesn’t care about what people think of her and just kind of does and says exactly what she wants. I think there’s a real freedom to that.
Forte: Oh yeah. I’ve got a spoiler for you that she was an ice queen in the show, but off the set, she was the nice queen. N-I-C-E queen. Respect queen. Friendly queen. Everybody involved in this, except for Robyn, was so nice and respectful and just everyone got along [laughs].
Robyn, your character, Emmy, is so great in this as well. Siobhán has this great line where she says everything you say sounds like you’re apologizing, but we see Emmy really stand up for herself as the series goes on. There’s this one great scene where you really tell off Dove, and it’s very unexpected. What do you like most about seeing that growth throughout the series?
Cara: Anyone’s gonna love a character that kind of has a proper journey in there. And yeah, it was so great because I think, well, like, first of all, I got to just act completely differently and kind of tell you what’s up and everything, which was great. But Emmy, she kind of just realizes that these guys aren’t actually as competent as they make out, and maybe she is more competent than them. So yeah, just playing that journey was so great and really fun.
