Based on the novel by Stephen King, who has adapted the story himself, and directed by Pablo Larraín, the Apple TV+ limited series Lisey’s Story follows Lisey Landon (Julianne Moore) as she continues to find her footing after the death of her husband, beloved novelist Scott Landon (Clive Owen). Still unsure of how to put all the pieces of her life back together, Lisey must also contend with a rabid fan (Dane DeHaan) that’s dangerously obsessed with Scott’s work while trying to understand the world that her sister Amanda (Joan Allen) has retreated into.

During a virtual junket to promote the new series, Collider got the opportunity to chat 1-on-1 with Allen about the simple family story at the center of this fantastical world, turning to YouTube to study catatonia, finding the different levels of emotion for her character, feeling a sense of closure with the series, and whether she ever thinks about the fate of her Bourne character.

Collider: When you read this, did you know what this character would be like or how this would be to play? Was it all pretty clearly laid out, or was it something where you felt like you had some freedom to find what you wanted to do?

JOAN ALLEN: Her state was pretty set. She goes through times where she’s catatonic and that was clear, and the self-harm was in the script, but I did look into both of those issues. In terms of the catatonia, I found some YouTube videos. I did not want to go into a mental facility and look at real people. That felt invasive and not right to me. But I wanted to be as accurate as I possibly could and I was able to find some black and white footage from the ‘50s of three gentlemen who were in a state of catatonia and a psychiatrist was interacting with them. It was very helpful to me to be able to see body position and looks, and hear anything that they might say. I used that a lot and it was very helpful. And Pablo Larraín, our wonderful director for all of the episodes, had a vision for what Amanda was like and how he pictured her, and that was extremely helpful to me.

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Image via Apple

There are also a lot of different levels to her emotions that we see throughout this. Were there specific things that you wanted to do with that, or is it just what feels felt right when you’re exploring it?

ALLEN: It depended on what was going on. You don’t get much of her background story or life in the series, but through the book, I was able to piece together what I imagined her life to be like. I didn’t really always have a plan. Certain scenes required certain emotions. I knew she’d have to get really upset at certain points. I wasn’t always sure what Pablo wanted, so I used him as my guiding star. There were times when he would actually just put the camera on me to get a bunch of different reactions. He would stand off-camera and throw things at me like, “This is happening to her. This is coming. Now, you’re scared. Now, it’s going away.” He would talk me through it, so he could get a variety of reactions. I would sometimes try to create a narrative in my head of what she was thinking, and that worked sometimes for how upset she would be, but then it was also helpful to have Pablo with an outside eye be able to talk me through a whole sequence. I would just go emotionally wherever he would say.

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There are so many different stories going on and so many different genres woven together throughout this. Were there times that it felt like you were just making this small family drama about three sisters?

ALLEN: Oh, for sure, absolutely. There is a lot of that in there. There’s small talk between sisters and that language that families have with each other. A lot of times, it did have that feeling, and I think it’s important that it has that feeling because you should care about people. That’s an important part of the story. You should really care about what’s happening to everybody, in spite of the world being very fantastical and magical and horrifying and scary. It’s all over the place. To have that simple family story is also really important.

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Image via Apple TV+

There are some beautiful moments in this between you and Julianne Moore and Jennifer Jason Leigh. What are the fondest memories that you have of working with them?

ALLEN: We just had fun doing certain scenes together. I don’t want to say anything that I shouldn’t, but there were some very funny things that we had to do and fun things that we got to do. I was happy about that. We got a kick out of it. They were just really game and fun and we laughed a lot. We had a great time together.

What was it like, the first time you read the story and learned about how things would end up? Did you feel like you had a sense of closure with your character and her story and the emotion of her story?

ALLEN: Yes, I think I felt a sense of closure, as much as Amanda ever will feel a sense of closure. I just look at her as a work in progress, like anybody. Something else could happen to her again and she might not do so well for another period of time, but for now she’s okay. I see the characters as having a lifelong reality challenge. We all have different things in our lives that are just there and we have to deal with them at various times. I think she’s always gonna be fragile and life will always be tricky for her.

What do you love about the work of Stephen King? How were you first introduced to his work? Was it through his books, or was it through a film adaptation that you saw?

ALLEN: Maybe the first thing was reading Carrie. That was one of the earliest exposures that I had. And then, I saw that movie, which was very scary to me. And The Shining is extremely memorable to me. I never would say that I was an aficionado, but I have really enjoyed his works in the past, as well as through this.

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Image via Apple

When it came to doing the Bourne movies, were you surprised to keep getting the call to return, as that franchise progressed?

ALLEN: I was thrilled. I was surprised, but I was very happy. I’m really, really happy that I had that experience and that affiliation, for sure.

How do you feel about the ambiguous nature of your character’s fate in those movies? Do you still hold out hope that maybe we’ll get to check back in with her and see what has happened?

ALLEN: I don’t know. I don’t think about that too much. Yes, maybe, but life is full of ambiguities to me. I’m like, “Yeah, okay, whatever.”

It also kind of allows your character to always live on, in a certain way.

ALLEN: That’s true. Yeah, exactly.

Lisey’s Story is available to stream at Apple TV+.