Created by British writer Rob Williams and based on the Israeli thriller False Flag, Apple TV's Suspicion follows five individuals who become suspects in the kidnapping case of an American businesswoman's son. Viewers meet the characters separately and get a close look into each of their lives; their relationships, the kin they hold dearest to them, and their various flaws and exploits. In more recent episodes, the characters have found themselves coming together while dodging intense situations and trying to figure out who the real culprit is.
The drama features an all-star cast including Kunal Nayyar (Big Bang Theory), Uma Thurman (Kill Bill), and Elizabeth Henstridge (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D). It also stars BAFTA winner Georgina Campbell, known for her roles in Murdered by My Boyfriend, Broadchurch, and Black Mirror, as bride-to-be Natalie Thompson. Game ZXC had the opportunity to chat with Campbell about the latter half of the series and her experience playing Natalie.
Game ZXC: What shows have you been binge-watching lately?
Georgina Campbell: Oh my god, so I'm really into Apple TV+ at the moment. I've been watching Severance which I absolutely love. The first two episodes are amazing. I've been watching The Afterparty as well, also Servant. This is a huge plug for Apple TV+. What else am I watching? I've just finished a job, so I've got a lot of time on my hands. I've been watching a lot of television. I'm really into The Bachelor. So I'm hooked on that at the moment. I've also been watching the new series of The Apprentice. I love The Apprentice. I'm a sucker for reality shows.
GR: That's such a diverse range of shows, something from every genre.
Campbell: I mean, not to be conceited, but I have been watching Suspicion.
GR: It seems like a lot of the characters in the show were mostly separate for the first half of the series, and we're slowly seeing them come together. I'm sure watching it, you're like, wow, I've never seen this scene before.
Campbell: Yeah, it's been so much fun because we didn't get to see any of that stuff when we first started because we weren't filming together. I remember there being a day when we did the scenes at the police station where we were all getting questioned, and that was the first time I really met Kunal [Nayyar] and Elizabeth [Henstridge]. We kind of awkward because we've all been filming different things, and then we finally got to the part where we all come together. It was just amazing. We all became such good friends and had so much fun.
Game ZXC: That sounds great. The cast has this incredible, all-star lineup. I know that you mentioned it was a bit awkward meeting each other on onset initially, how did you guys strike up that chemistry after being apart for those first few episodes?
Campbell: We stopped filming because of COVID and everything shut down. When we came back, the first stuff that we shot, we were all together. It was like we were suddenly thrown into being together and the COVID protocols. And we had to stay together between shooting and we just all spent so much time together and became so close. It was a really beautiful, lovely kind of moment in time, especially because of everything that was going on with COVID. Everyone was stressed and some of the cast, Elizabeth and Kunal, were away from home. They moved over to the UK, they didn't have their friends or family to rely on. We all banded together.
GR: I love that. Do you have a favorite onset memory?
Campbell: We were talking about this actually. In episode 4, there was everything where we get in the van, and we come to the airplane. We were there and it was raining. It was winter in the UK, and we were doing night shoots. We were there from like 5pm until 5am, and it was just such a fun, silly time. We were all freezing and wearing like these silly little rain hats all the time, and we were shoved into a camper van type-thing, and we were all just kind of delirious. So those were some good times.
GR: As you mentioned before, we're at this really good halfway point of the series. Can you tease the last half of this series and the finale? What should fans expect from Natalie's character arc?
Campbell: I think Natalie just goes on a really big journey. Episode 4 is the beginning of almost a downfall for Natalie, things just keep getting worse and worse for her, and her whole kind of life falls apart. She pretty much loses everything that she had at the beginning of this series, but by the end of the series, it's so cringe, but it's almost like she finds herself. She kind of comes into her own. She's so strong. I really enjoyed playing that. In general for the end of the show. I mean, we're all waiting for we want to find out who did it. We want to find out why they did it. We want to find out what Katherine Newman is hiding. What is the truth? I think there's kind of a lot to be unpacked. And yeah, it's exciting.
GR: Are there any characteristics you share with Natalie, she's such a cool character.
Campbell: So well, I look a lot like her. [laughs] What do I share with Natalie? She can be a little bit fierce sometimes. I remember there being moments where we were filming, and I'd give someone like a dirty look in a scene, and my sister would definitely be like, that's you, that's you when you're annoyed. There's definitely a side of her that can be quite kind of confrontational. And I also just think she's such a family person. She really puts her family first. I like to think that I'm like that as well. I really care about my family.
GR: And what do you think is her most admirable trait?
Campbell: She's such a difficult character, because there are lots of things that Natalie does that are wrong. She's a criminal, she steals. She goes on this mission towards the end of the show that is very misguided. But, I admire her ability to stand up for herself and what she believes in, and what she cares about. She's so in control of herself, she's always trying to save other people. We see her when she's getting questioned by the police and all she's worried about is Monique and where she is.
And then you know, her fiancé comes in, Joe, and she's like, you've got to leave, you've got to get out of there. And I think part of it is she doesn't want him to find out what she's been doing, but I think there's another part of her that's kind of wanting to protect him from this. She knows she's done the crime. He's a lawyer. She really cares about people. And she puts them first a lot, which I think is admirable.
GR: You mentioned she's this complex character. Where did you look for inspiration when playing her?
Campbell: The script was just so great. And the directors really had a vision for who she was. And I did as well. We all worked together to figure it out. And it was a really fun thing to do. It was really enjoyable to try different things on the day and maybe, for one take we'd be really pushing her being a hard a** and she's going to give them everything she's got, and then maybe another take, we take it back, and we go, okay, let's feel the vulnerability of this moment. And then obviously, in the edit, they get to kind of play with it. The performance has all these different layers in it.
New episodes of Suspicion stream Fridays on Apple TV+.