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Daisy Edgar-Jones on How ‘Under the Banner of Heaven’ Tells “a Cautionary Tale of Fundamentalism”

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After starring in FX’s Under the Banner of Heaven, Daisy Edgar-Jones knows the kind of stories she hopes to always tell in her future projects.

In FX’s seven-episode limited series, which comes to a close on June 2, Edgar-Jones takes on the role of Brenda Wright, who marries Allen Lafferty, a member of an esteemed Mormon family from Utah and whose brothers spiral into Latter-Day Saints fundamentalism. Based on the 2003 true-crime novel by Jon Krakauer, the series follows the events leading up to the murders of Brenda and her 15-month-old baby girl, Erica.

The series tells the true story through the eyes of Detective Jeb Pyre (played by Andrew Garfield), a devout Latter-Day Saint whose faith is tested when he investigates the brutal murders that seem to have ties to the origins of the LDS religion and the violent consequences of unyielding faith.

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The series also stars Sam Worthington, Denise Gough, Wyatt Russell, Billy Howle, Gil Birmingham, Rory Culkin, Adelaide Clemens, Seth Numrich, Chloe Pirrie and Sandra Seacat.

When taking on the role of Brenda Wright, Edgar-Jones tells The Hollywood Reporter she saw it as “an opportunity” to “celebrate her life and for her to have a voice.” Edgar-Jones thinks the series not only serves as “a cautionary tale of fundamentalism” but shows how important it is to see women onscreen supporting each other.

“Instead of sort of tearing each other down or poking holes in each other, actually supporting and bringing each other up,” Edgar-Jones tells THR. “That kind of community, I think that was a real sort of learning thing and something that I now in my next projects would want to seek to sort of make sure to always tell.”

In a recent conversation with THR below, Edgar-Jones opens up about Brenda’s journey, how she wrapped her head around the tragedy at the series’ core and more.

Talk to us about Brenda’s journey in Under the Banner of Heaven. 

She meets Allen Lafferty [at university], and she starts a relationship with him and is introduced to all the Lafferty brothers. As the show progresses, we see her sort of observing them and their dynamic, and her relationship with the faith is very different to theirs. I think she starts to kind of notice some things that are awry, and then she sort of tries to help the women of the family to kind of gain their agency back, and then the story goes from there really.

Brenda seems to have a different relationship with each Lafferty brother. How did you prepare to work with each of them differently? 

The relationships between them all were very well-crafted on the page, so I had a real idea of how she interacted with them. Particularly with Ron and Dan, she has a very different sort of relationship. In the beginning, she’s quite a little infatuated with Ron at first, and Dan sort of is quite unsettling, but initially in a quite humorous way, and then obviously with Allen. It was so fun to be back in a big ensemble cast again, and that’s my favorite, is working in a big group and watching how other actors approach scenes and being really available to react to whatever they’re kind of giving. So, it was really fun just to be in those scenes. They’re all such brilliant actors and sort of just play with whatever they kind of threw at me if that makes sense.

How did you get into the mindset of playing Brenda? 

What really stood out to me was that she was incredibly witty and a very cheerful, happy person, but also incredibly astute and sharp, and I think it was playing with that kind of dynamic — which we often do as women sort of fitting into whatever box we’re being asked to fit into, in order to kind of comfortably exist, whilst also being massively aware of fact that you’re doing that. Playing with that, for example, the scene with her and the college professor, she plays it in a very cheerful way, but she really lets him know that he’s not to mess with her.

What was the most challenging part of playing Brenda? 

We see her a lot through flashbacks. I think so often with true crime, the victim of the murder becomes just that and is sort of defined by their death, and I was really keen for this to be an opportunity to also celebrate her life and for her to have a voice. But the scenes are quite sparing, so, I was making an impact as much as possible with the material and the time that I had. That was something that was really important to me.

How did you wrap your head around the idea that this series is based on a true, horrific story?

I think there would be moments onset where you’d realize that these are true events were happening, and I think it was making sure to do as much research as possible and be as well kind of on top of what went on and so that you were making sure that you had done your work really. It was really helpful to have the book by Jon Krakauer that was such a fascinating read and sort of referring to that, and that was really informative on a huge amount of things, not just this particular case, but just the religion and faith, the sort of community as a whole, too, certain aspects of a particular section of the community, I wouldn’t say that general.

What did you learn from playing Brenda that you’ll take to future projects?

I learned how important it is and how little we see often onscreen women sort of helping other women. Instead of sort of tearing each other down or poking holes in each other, actually supporting and bringing each other up, and that kind of community, I think that was a real sort of learning thing and something that I now in my next projects would want to seek to sort of make sure to always tell. It’s just really important that we see women looking out for each other not sort of tearing each other down, which we so often see.

Did you talk to any of Brenda’s family before filming?

Just before starting, I rang Sharon, her younger sister, because I just wanted to sort of check in and just introduce myself because I was aware that this must be a very difficult thing to relive and experience. I wanted to just introduce myself because I can’t imagine what that’s like to sort of have someone play your sister considering what happened to her.

What would you say is the takeaway of the series?

It’s definitely a cautionary tale to fundamentalism in general and also just like how, when times are tough, vulnerable people are more susceptible to that. So, I think that that’s definitely something, and then personally, I hope people take away what a kind, empathetic person Brenda was, which is something I learned, personally that would be something that I’d hope people got from watching it.

What’s it like having such a loyal following of fans on social media? 

That’s so lovely. I’m so bad on social media, so I didn’t even know that was a thing. That’s made my day. I hope to sort of take these next few years as an actor of learning, I want to take risks and projects, and I want to learn from that, and so it’s nice to have people who are interested in coming on that journey too. Hopefully, they’ll forgive some mistakes I will make along the way.

Interview edited for length and clarity. 

Under the Banner of Heaven is available to stream on Hulu.