The Girl in the Woods is one of the most exciting TV shows of the year.
The series follows a young woman’s escape from a mysterious cult-like colony that guards the world from monsters hidden behind a door in the woods.
TV Fanatic got the chance to chat with Sofia Bryant (Tasha), Misha Osherovich (Nolan), Will Yun Lee (Arthur Dean), Reed Diamond (Hosea), and Kylie Lya Page (Sara) about bringing the series to life.
We also talked with Stefanie Scott, who plays Carrie. Stefanie’s full interview is at the bottom of the post in video form.
One thing that was evident from the series is that all of the characters get a lot to work with. They feel very well-developed, and the show does not waste a single character.
Reed was ecstatic to work on the show because it had everything his 13-year-old daughter is looking for.
“She’s looking for real compelling horror. And she’s looking for real LGBTQ plus representation,” the actor shared.
“If she had a metric for what she wants in a television show, this is it. So soon as I read the pilot script, I was like, ‘I have to do this. I have to do it for my kid.'”
“So that’s certainly what I mean, what attracted me right away. I was like, ‘this is what my daughter wants to see.'”
“And it’s the first show I’ve done in, I think in her lifetime that she’s been excited about.”
“It’s funny too. There was a moment where I thought there’s going to be a conflict and that I won’t be able to do it.”
“She’s like, ‘you have to do this show.'”
Reed said the show was so compelling to him that he read the scripts countless times. He believes this to be a testament to the themes J. Casey Modderno managed to weave into the script.
“It just felt so real. And so accurate. It sounds like the conversations I’m hearing my kid have with her friends. It just feels so current and so believable, but then the mythology of the horror was so fascinating,” Reed said.
For Will, he was instantly hooked on the show’s premise alone.
“I haven’t done a lot of things that are just fun, pure fun. And that was that,” the actor shared.
“And you know, watching Kylie, she is definitely one to watch. I just love watching her.”
“Watching all these people come to life on screen, and she is definitely someone you’re going to see a lot of. So I’m so excited.”
Kylie said that it was an honor working with the cast and that she liked the messages in the show.
“The script is so relatable to so many different aspects. You know, you have the tradition, you have family, you have friends. And I think the thing that I also loved that this show does is it brings a lot more humor than what I had originally expected,” Kylie said.
“Like I thought this was going to be like a horror, like really scary like show, and it turns into a kind of lighter one.”
“There’s so much more humor in it than I thought. All three kids are just hilarious. I didn’t know that their dynamic was something so unique and special and kind of wacky.”
“And of course, the LGBTQ representation, I’m living for the diversity.”
“I think the diversity of the characters is really awesome,” added Sofia.
“I’ve been saying like if I had a show like this when I was a little bit younger, I would have felt so seen.”
“I’m really excited to see how people kind of respond to the show.”
Sofia said that she is proud of the representation on the show.
“I could not agree more,” Misha said.
“I think what we’ve been coming to as we talk about this show in the press is that it’s messy and it’s messy kind of all the right ways because being a teenager is messy, even if you’re not being chased by monsters, which we happen to be,” the star added.
The show features gender identity and classism, as well as environmental issues.
“But it does it through a lens of teenagers, figuring out who they are in that messy sort of in-between moment way,” Misha added.
“And I think it was just done so beautifully even from the first read, and it was such a gift to bring that to life on set.”
“Nolan is a kid figuring out gender identity and struggling with some mental health issues,” Misha shared.
Nolan’s family are hardcore environmentalists that are trying to change things in town by closing the mine down.
“That is a big source of conflict and puts no one on the outside.”
Nolan’s parent’s are very different from Tasha’s, and that brings them together.
“Nolan and Tasha are like two peas in a pod, the two outcasts of the town, which is why Tasha especially kind of welcomes Carrie with open arms, and it’s like, yes, more friends,” Sofia says.
The Girl in the Woods spans eight episodes, and it is based on CryptTV’s short movie.
All of the cast members are open to the idea of continuing the series should it be a success.
The series is also a very easy binge, with the episodes coming in around 30 minutes. The Girl in the Woods is available to stream on Peacock now.
Check out Carissa’s interview with Stefanie Scott below.
Paul Dailly is the Associate Editor for TV Fanatic. Follow him on Twitter.