Created by Freddy Syborn (Killing Eve) and based on the novel by Daniel Cole, the crime thriller Ragdoll, which is available to stream at AMC+, follows DC Lake Edmunds (Lucy Hale), an American detective who finds herself in London and entangled in a grotesque case that involves six people who have been murdered, dismembered and sewn into one body that’s left suspended from the ceiling, given the appropriate nickname of the Ragdoll. As Edmunds navigates just how involved disgraced detective DS Rose (Henry Lloyd-Hughes) is and how much she can trust DI Baxter (Thalissa Teixeira), she does everything she can to help stop a killer while also keeping herself from becoming one of his victims.
During this 1-on-1 interview with Collider, which you can both watch and read, Hale talked about why she wanted to be a part of this show, playing someone with trust issues, her character’s tattoos, keeping a sense of humor in a dark world, why it’s fun to not know what’s coming next in the story, feeling like audiences will be satisfied with the journey this season, whether she’d want to continue telling this story in another season, how much she’s grown since her time on Pretty Little Liars, and why this is a turning point in her career.
Collider: When this project came your way, what most attracted you to it? Was it the story? Was it the character? Was it all of those things? Was it none of those things?
LUCY HALE: It was all of it. I love the genre of the show. I love true crime. I love true crime podcasts. I’m the first to turn on a serial killer documentary. I just am naturally drawn to the darker things in life, and the morbid and gruesome. I just wanna know, and I wanna know more. And so, I got sent the script and I was really excited because I love Killing Eve. I think it’s a very smart show. I think that the balance between the humor, these crazy characters, and the gruesomeness of it all just makes it really unique. That’s what I loved about Ragdoll too. There’s bviously all of the elements of why we like a show like this, but the writing and how the characters use humor to cope with everything around them, made it really interesting. And then, there was the whole thing of, I’m dying to do something different. I’m dying to do something a little left of center.
Creatively, I actually needed to do something that excited me, and the show just got me so excited. And I love Edmunds. Originally, when I read the script, I was like, “Oh, she’s British. Cool.” But what I thought was so funny was that they needed someone to drop into this British crime world. She’s very American. I don’t wanna say she’s naive, but she’s not jaded by her work yet. She’s still desperate to do the right thing and desperate to do a good job and show that she deserves to be there. She walks in, and Baxter and Rose obviously have a long history, but she’s determined to make her way into this little triangle. She third wheels a lot of the time. I love that she’s not afraid to talk about things. Especially in her line of work, people don’t talk about the heart of the matter. They don’t talk about feelings. They don’t talk about emotions. Edmunds just leads with her heart, all the time, for better or for worse.
One of the things that I particularly love about British crime dramas is that they seem riskier. I’ve watched some where, by the end of the season, they kill off who you think is the main character, which an American show would likely never do. Had you tried to find a show like this before, or was it this particular kind of sensibility that you were looking for?
HALE: I had auditioned for a couple of other American similar type shows and you’re absolutely right, there does feel like there’s that added layer of danger because they might just kill off the main characters. This show definitely teeters on the edge. What I loved about it is, from a writing standpoint and the directing and cinematography, they were really inspired by Korean cinema and you really see that because it feels like a lot of the moments are very theatrical and crazy. There are a couple of moments, later in the season, where you’re like, “They did that. They really just went for that.” And I think people love to see that. We didn’t wanna play it safe, and I really respected that. There are some things that are very uncomfortable to watch in our show, which I love. I’m like, “Okay, give me more. I love this.”
I love that your character has so many tattoos. Tattoos are so interesting because they usually all have some sort of story behind them, whether it’s a good story or not. What was it like to have all of the tattoos? Did you come up with reasons for each one? What do you think they mean to her and what do you think they say about her?
HALE: I actually have a lot of tattoos myself, so some of them were mine. They’re all small, but they’re scattered, so I get it. You’re either a tattoo person or you’re not. I love them. It’s true that once you start, you’re not gonna stop. Some of mine have meaning. Some were really dumb choices. A lot of mine really mean a lot to me. With Edmunds, she is sentimental. Things really matter to her. I think that all of her tattoos do mean something profound to her. I think that tattoos are a story of your life, whether they’re good or bad. And that was always written in the script. That was always a character choice, for her to be completely sleeved. It’s also a generational thing. People in my age group, whereas tattoos used to be a little taboo, now everyone’s tattooed, especially in L.A. You don’t see someone my age without a tattoo. So, I think that it says a lot about who she is and her generation. There is one tattoo, in particular, that does have a lot of weight and a lot of meaning to her, and it actually has a lot to do with her arc, later on in the show. She doesn’t have tattoos just to have them. They actually are incorporated into the storyline later on as well.
We also learn pretty quick that clearly she has a relationship with an ex-girlfriend that has made an impact on her. Will we learn more about that and why it does seem to have had such a lasting effect?
HALE: Oh, yes, you will. It actually has a lot to do with why Edmunds literally and figuratively ran away from everything. I think it’s why she chose the career path she did. It explains why she’s in the UK. While we were filming Episodes 1 through 3, I knew that something had happened in Edmunds’ past that has really changed the trajectory of her life and changed the core of who she is because of this experience with this person, but I didn’t know the weight of what it was until we were shooting the later half of the show. It’s a lot, but yes, you will find out how this person plays into it all and why Edmunds has trust issues, and all of that.
What kind of reaction did you have, once you did have those answers about her, but also once you had the answers about this crime and what was going on? Without spoilers, what were your reactions to learning all of those things?
HALE: It’s always so fun to not know what’s coming next and to go script by script and get all of these little puzzle pieces. It’s definitely what (show creator) Freddy [Syborn] did so brilliantly with the writing. He just takes you down so many paths, and it’s why these shows are so great. You’re like, “Oh, it’s definitely this person.” And then, you’re like, “Oh, shit, no, it’s definitely this person.” What’s great is the suspicion of everyone, not only as an audience member, but then you see Baxter, Rose and Edmunds get really suspicious of each other and you see their trust just go out the window. Freddy is so brilliant at what he does. I need a flowchart for our show, to understand everything. Towards the end, I think people will be really satisfied with who it is. It’s a journey.
This is a pretty gruesome case that’s playing out over these episodes. What was your reaction to reading that in the scripts and how did that compare to seeing it actually visually brought to life, as you did those scenes? How does it feel when you do scenes like that?
HALE: Reading it is one thing. I’m like, “Yes, give me more. More gruesome.” I eat it up. I love it. Seeing it was really disturbing. Seeing the Ragdoll for the first time, I’m not gonna lie, it just looked real. Obviously, that’s the whole point. The prosthetic company that made the Ragdoll spent many, many, many months making it look the way that it did. The detail of it too, it actually looked like people sewn together. Obviously, we’re filming a show and I know this isn’t real, but there is an element of how everything we’re doing has a little bit of reality to it. There have been some dark people in the world who have done similar things to people, like us, before. It was a pretty memorable day of filming when we actually saw the Ragdoll. We had physical reactions to it. It was intense, but that’s the whole point, so that’s good.
This show, with as dark and as gruesome as it is, also does have a sense of humor. Do you feel like the humor often comes out of a need these characters have to keep things light when their job is so dark?
HALE: Yeah. I’m just fascinated that people actually do that for a living because how do you live your life? How do you go home to your kids and your family? How do you leave your work behind when you’re at home? And I think the only answer is that you have to do it through humor. You have to keep things light. It has to be a coping mechanism. At least for the characters in the show, I think that’s just how they deal with the day-to-day on this case that they’re dealing with, and on all of the cases that they deal with. What’s so great about the writing is that I feel like the humor is perfectly woven into the dialogue and the tone of the show. It doesn’t ever feel like we’re trying to take away from what’s happening. It just is very realistic. As humans, that’s what we do. We make light of things because, otherwise, how else do you deal with it?
Have you had conversations about how this show could continue? Is this a character that you’re hoping to play for a bit longer, because she is so awesome?
HALE: I’d do so many more years of it. You know what? I think we end it in a way that’s really strong and satisfying, but of course, we would love to keep going. I so loved working with Thalissa [Teixeira] and Henry [Lloyd-Hughes] on a level that I had not experienced before. I have so much respect for them. They work really hard. They’re both theatrically trained and I’m not, so I just felt like I learned so much from them. With (executive producer) Sally [Woodward Gentle], Freddy and everyone involved, it was just so special to me. Personally, I would love to keep playing Edmunds. I would love to live in this world more. I think the possibilities are endless, with a show like this, so we shall see.
On Pretty Little Liars, you also had a lot of dark material and explored some very dark mysteries. Do you feel a similar feeling with the content between that and Ragdoll?
HALE: Yeah, there definitely are some similarities. The Pretty Little Liars took pride in being the town detectives, the unofficial detectives because the police force in that town was crap. They didn’t do anything. Obviously, PLL skews a lot younger and is a lot less realistic, but both of the shows live in a heightened reality. With Ragdoll, I’m obviously way older than when I did PLL, and it feels like a new chapter in my life, just as far as where I’m at personally and where I’m at in my career, but yeah, there are certain strings that make them very similar. I think that the people who watched the PLL, who have grown up with me, are old enough to appreciate a show like Ragdoll, so hopefully they’ll be into it.
How different do you feel, as an actor? Do you feel like you’ve learned so much more, since your time doing that show, to where you are now?
HALE: I do. I think that being on a show that went for almost eight years and 160 episodes, that was a time in my life where I really honed my craft and knew, “Oh, I actually love what I do. This is great.” I learned all the technical aspects of how to hit a mark, how to find your light, and all of those things. Towards the end of that show, obviously I think we were all ready to move on and try different things. I’ve been just really fortunate that people have allowed me to dip my toes in different characters. With everyone involved with Ragdoll, I was so grateful that they believed in me for this role and were like, “This is so different for you, but we believe you can do this.” That meant so much to me because I know I can do all of these things, but getting people to actually see you in that light was really important to me.
This is a turning point in my career, I feel like, because I could keep doing romantic comedies and things like that, all day long, and I really enjoy that and that’s really fun, but as a artist and as an actor, I actually creatively need to do things that challenge me, or it’s just not fun for me. I’m at the point now where I’m willing to take risks. I’m willing to fail, if I need to, to just get excited. As an actor, I can’t do the same thing, over and over again. And so, to answer your question, I truly feel like a different actor now because I’ve learned and I’ve grown, and I’ll continue to do that with experiences like this. So, there’s lots of gratitude over here, for sure.
Ragdoll is available to stream at AMC+.