It was only a matter of time before Lauren Beukes’s 2013 best-selling novel The Shining Girls was picked up and adapted for a visual format. It’s got the perfect combination of intense thriller and metaphysical, time-shifting concepts that other novels like The Time Traveler’s Wife and Outlander have proven to be successful with audiences when they made the transition to TV screens.
So it came as no surprise that the TV rights for The Shining Girls were secured way back when (even before the novel was officially released!) by MRC Television and Leonardo DiCaprio’s production company Appian Way Productions. And now we’re approaching the long-awaited opportunity to see what they have done with the book as the TV series Shining Girls is coming to Apple TV+ on Friday, April 29.
In her novel, Beukes created a metaphysical world where a man travels through time to find and murder the “shining girls” (i.e. strong and bright women who shine with potential). He successfully does so until one victim, Kirby Mazrachi, gets away alive from his brutal assault - but not without suffering trauma and disjointed memories of the assault.
In the TV show adaptation, we meet Kirby as an archivist at a Chicago-based newspaper in the 90s, six years after her assault. She is still very much affected by the assault and continues to have trouble telling the difference between reality and imagination. She has lost many of her memories and much of her mind, having to detail facts of her life in a diary to ensure she can keep track of what's real and what's not.
One day she stumbles across a murder report that bears similarities to the assault she survived. She teams up with veteran reporter Dan Velazquez to investigate, and they discover a series of murders that appear to all be connected to the same killer. Kirby finds herself battling her mind and her memories to uncover the truth and identify the killer and her attacker.
Shining Girls is a mind-bending watch that does well to translate the thrilling intensity of the novel to screen and keeps you hooked on Kirby’s investigation with each twist and turn. It’s a show that transports viewers in more ways than one - let’s meet the ensemble cast and characters who are going to take you on the journey.
Elisabeth Moss as Kirby Mazrachi
Our main protagonist is Kirby Mazrachi, played by Elisabeth Moss in the show.
Kirby was an aspiring journalist but deferred her ambitions after suffering a violent and traumatic assault. We meet her in the 90s as a newspaper archivist at the Chicago Sun-Times when she learns of a recent murder that bears many similar hallmarks to her own assault. As Kirby delves deeper and becomes more immersed in the case, she has difficulties with her trauma-affected memory and is uncertain of which events are reality and which are figments of her imagination.
Reality and time seem to shift continually in Kirby’s perception and things aren’t always as they seem. The Shining Girls trailer reinforces this by giving us a sneak peek at how Kirby gets reinvented in different timelines, from her first interactions with Harper as a young girl to her adult self in various settings.
Moss brings her trademark intensity and acting chops to the role (think The Handmaid’s Tale and The Invisible Man) and gives us a well-developed character to cheer on during her search for the killer. Through Moss’s empathetic and emotive depiction, we get to see into Kirby’s mindset of confusion and hazy memories - and we get a view of what trauma can do to a person’s mind.
Moss wore a few different hats during the production of Shining Girls. She starred in, was an executive producer for the show through Love & Squalor Pictures, and also took the directorial helm for two of the eight episodes.
Wagner Moura as Dan Velazquez
Dan Velazquez, played by Wagner Moura, is a veteran reporter at the Chicago Sun-Times that connects with Kirby to investigate the case and uncover the truth about the murders.
Kirby finds a strong and reliable ally in Dan as he helps her with the investigation but also gives her a safe space to discuss what happened to her and unpack the trauma she continues to suffer. He seems to be the first person to truly listen to her and not dismiss her reality-shifting experiences and sieve-like memories.
Dan brings his own trauma and history to the case and gets deeply embroiled and invested in the case with Kirby. The trailer shows Dan being followed by the attacker and getting beat up in a nightclub scene. He seems to care as much about the case as Kirby does and is the first one to identify that the cold case murders are somehow linked.
Moura is a celebrated Brazilian actor, director, filmmaker, musician, and journalist. He is most known to American audiences as portraying Pablo Escobar in Narcos and Narcos: Mexico and for his roles in Elite Squad and Elite Squad 2.
In Shining Girls, Moura is able to match Moss’s intensity and holds his own as a supporting character and reliable co-investigator to Kirby in the show.
Jamie Bell as Harper Curtis
Now for the mysterious villain of the show…
Jamie Bell plays the omnipresent serial killer Harper Curtis. He seems to be everywhere all at once and in many places at the same time. He plucks a wing off a fly with a young Kirby but is also seemingly the same age when he watches Kirby as an adult.
In the trailer he’s often seen hiding in the shadows or watching from afar and stalks his victims with a threatening but almost invisible presence. Kirby and Dan’s investigation starts to reveal more about why and how Harper kills in the way that he does and how he can seem to be in so many places and times all at once.
Bell brings his versatility and brooding intensity perfectly to the role as Harper Curtis and helps to add the sense of darkness needed for the character.
You may recognize Bell from a vastly different role in his youth when he famously played Billy Elliot. He comes from a family of dancers so was well-placed for the much lauded performance in Billy Elliot, even winning a BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role and becoming one of the youngest winners of the award.
Since his Billy Elliot days, Bell has consistently acted in TV and movies in a wide variety of roles, including in movies like Fantastic Four, Jumper, and Rocketman, voicing Tintin in The Adventures of Tintin, and in TV series TURN: Washington’s Spies.
Phillipa Soo as Jin-Sook
During the investigation Kirby identifies another modern-day prospective victim of Harper and links up with her to discuss her experiences.
This fellow victim is Jin-Sook, a strong, intelligent woman who is a researcher at the Adler Planetarium. Jin-Sook understands that she and Kirby are connected by their attacker, whether Jin-Sook has actually been attacked yet. The trailer shows a series of occasions where Harper is stalking her and is mysteriously in her apartment behind her. It appears that she may be his next victim - unless they can find him first.
Jin-Sook is played by the talented Phillipa Soo. Soo is most well known for originating the role of Eliza Hamilton in the Broadway musical Hamilton, with her performance earning her a nomination for a Tony for Best Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical and a Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album. She has since appeared in other Broadway and off-Broadway productions and acted or voiced characters in Dopesick, The Bite, and Over the Moon.
Amy Brenneman as Rachel
The final main character in this ensemble cast is Rachel, played by Amy Brenneman. Rachel is Kirby’s rebellious single mother and a local rock singer who Kirby continues to live with. Rachel is seen in the trailer meeting Harper across timelines, suggesting that she is also aware of the dark presence of Harper watching Kirby over time.
Brenneman brings significant TV acting experience to the production. She is best known for co-creating and starring in the long-running TV series Judging Amy, for which she received five Emmy nominations. Brenneman has had a consistent career in TV and films, appearing in the movies Heat, Fear, and Daylight, and TV shows such as Private Practice, Tell Me Your Secrets, and The Leftovers.