The Big Picture

Collider’s Perri Nemiroff sits down with the cast of
Teacup
at Fantastic Fest 2024.
During their chat, Scott Speedman, Émilie Bierre and Caleb Dolden tease what to expect from their characters throughout the season.
They also take a moment to sing the praises of star and producer Yvonne Strahovski.

Last we spoke with some of the team behind the upcoming Peacock series, Teacup, they were only first beginning their press run. While at San Diego Comic-Con, they unveiled a new teaser for the series and also announced its premiere date. Now that that premiere date, October 10th, is right around the corner, team Teacup ramped up their promotional push at one of the best possible places for a sci-fi horror show, Fantastic Fest in Austin, Texas.

Teacup is based on Robert McCammon’s New York Times bestselling novel, Stinger. Written for the screen by showrunner Ian McCulloch and writers Michael A. O’Shea, Francisca X. Hu and Zoe Cooper, the series unfolds at the Chenoweth family farm where Maggie (Yvonne Strahovksi) and James (Scott Speedman), and their two children, Meryl (Émilie Bierre) and Arlo (Caleb Dolden), find themseleves trapped on their property while up against a mysterious and sinister threat.

I was lucky enough to have two lengthy Teacup chats at Fantastic Fest 2024, so that means you’ll have Teacup content on Collider right now and all the way through the show’s Season 1 finale on October 31st. Of course, we’ll be saving the spoiler-filled portions of our conversations for the appropriate times, but right now we’ve got a completely spoiler-free interview for you with some of the Cheoweth family — Scott Speedman, Émilie Bierre, and Caleb Dolden. You can give that a watch in the video at the top of this article, or read the spoiler-free portion of the interview in transcript form below. And then, stay tuned. We’ll have the rest of the interview for you soon!

“We Have a Really Good Shot at Doing Something Special Here.”

PERRI NEMIROFF: Scott, the last time we spoke, I had only seen half of Teacup. Now, I have seen the full season and, my god, where things go. Congratulations to you all!

ÉMILIE BIERRE: Thank you.

SCOTT SPEEDMAN: Thank you so much.

This feels like the kind of show that does not work without the perfect ensemble, and I do think Ian has found it in all of you. Do you remember the first moment on set when you stopped, looked around at everyone, and said to yourself, “My god, we’re the perfect cast for this?”

SPEEDMAN: I don’t know if I remember one particular moment. I really have to take my hat off to Ian for creating that environment before anybody even got there. I’ve worked in both ways where you’re like, “Wow, I hope this cast is good because it doesn’t feel totally all the way there. The family dynamics aren’t really there, and we need to work extra hard for it to get there.” But really, when I was doing the read-through actually, and I knew where the show was going, and I knew that Ian had written these great scripts, I was like, “We have a really good shot at doing something special here.”

BIERRE: When we did the table read, you just looked around and everyone was so into it already, which was really exciting. Then we started off with a lot of night shoots. The whole cast, basically, was on set for that, and so that was exciting to just see everyone in their characters for the first few times. It was very exciting.

CALEB DOLDEN: I think for the table read, I realized that this was a very good cast for this type of show. And then, like Emily said, the night shoots. There are a lot of people there, and you got to see everybody doing what they were supposed to do.

Meet the Chenoweth Family
Image via Peacock

Again, we are not spoiling anything yet, so I need to tease your characters for our viewers and readers. For each of you, at the very beginning of Teacup , what would you say is your character’s greatest strength in the situation they find themselves in? But then also, what is their greatest weakness, the thing that could do them in while trying to survive this?

SPEEDMAN: For James, his greatest strength, I would say, he is the type of guy that would probably … Actually, you know what? I can only really think of what he would be bad at because that jumps out to me, especially at the beginning. [Laughs] I think what I loved about this character is he starts off in such an unlikable position, and he seems a little distant from the family. There’s overt things and then there are other things, and I think you could get the sense that when stuff would come down the pike, he would run rather than face it. And I think what was interesting about me playing this character was I can really see when the S-H-I-T kicks up, it was interesting to see he went the opposite way. I think that was what was most surprising for me.

BIERRE: For Meryl, I would say what I really liked about her is the fierceness that she has. She looks up to her mom a lot, and as soon as things start to get crazy, she’s like, “Okay, I’m gonna step up, and I’m gonna prove myself to be this little adult already.” Then I would say for her weakness, she might not be that adult just yet, and so she still has to do her best to protect her brother especially. She has her guard up a little bit at the beginning, so once she lets that down, I think she’s a pretty brave young woman.

Image via Peacock
 

DOLDEN: I think Arlo’s greatest strength is the fact that he listens pretty well, so he won’t wander off when he’s not supposed to, pretty much.

SPEEDMAN: [Laughs] That’s good. That’s always a good quality. For kids, I have to tell you, that’s a real top quality not to wander off by themselves alone. That’s a big one. It’s a good one. That’s a good quality.

DOLDEN: I think his greatest weakness is his want to always be where his mom or sister is, and so when they’re not with him …

SPEEDMAN: And his dad, too, probably.

BIERRE: That’s not what he said! [Laughs]

DOLDEN: Well, where his family is, and when he’s not with them, I think he wants to go to them.

Yvonne Strahovski Isn’t Just Holding the On-Screen Family Together
Strahovski also serves as a producer on the series.
Because Yvonne is not here today, I did want to make sure to highlight her work. For each of you, can you tell me something you appreciated about her not only as a scene partner but also as a leader on this set?

SPEEDMAN: That’s pretty easy. I didn’t know her personally, but I knew her work, and when I read where we had to go together, I was like, “Okay.” Some people think some of the hard stuff you see on screen is gonna be the hardest days — that’s not always true. Sometimes the easiest scenes are the hardest. But those scenes where we really had to “go there,” I was like, “I know that’s gonna be good.” I know she’s gonna meet me where I wanna go, and she’s gonna blow it out of the water, and she did. She was amazing, and she’s a good leader. I think we all kind of felt that through these first night shoots. We were all just having fun. The material was so intense, but we were always finding time. She’s very funny and likes to have fun, as we all did, so she was a great leader that way.

It’s a relief to hear she likes to have fun with all the scenes that just flooded my mind!

SPEEDMAN: Oh my gosh, I know! But watching that and then reading this, I was like, “Okay, we got a shot here.”

BIERRE: Totally. What I find really interesting acting-wise is when people can tell so much without even speaking, just through a look, and she’s a master at that, so it was just great to be around her. And then, yeah, she has this beautiful personality, and she’s producing the show, too. It was just interesting to have those conversations with her. I wanna start directing and producing, too, so to be around a woman like her, who’s so strong and fun and simple and authentic, it was just a joy to work with her. [To Speedman] You were great, too, but we’re talking about her. [Laughs]

SPEEDMAN: No, the question was specifically about her. That’s okay.

BIERRE: Yeah, she’s awesome. She really is.

Image via Peacock

DOLDEN: What I liked about her is the fact she was so good!

BIERRE: She really took care of you and welcomed you and made you feel safe with all those big scenes that you had, which is always very special. When you have kids on set, sometimes it’s just so special when you make those kids feel included and like they’re really a part of the story you’re telling, and I saw her do that with him.

You can stream Teacup on Peacock beginning October 10th. Keep an eye out for the spoiler-filled half of this conversation soon!

Watch on Peacock