What you need to know about the new detective series Furious

LOLA PETTICREW IS an actor we’re always delighted to see on screen. They were outstanding in Say Nothing and Trespasses, and a real highlight of films like Dating Amber. So here’s some exciting news – Belfast native Lola is back this month in a new series.

It’s called Furious, and it premieres on Disney+. Here’s what you need to know about it.

What sort of series is it?

Furious is a detective series and comes from creator and executive producer Elizabeth Meriwether, who was also behind the series Dying For Sex, The Dropout and New Girl. In other words, very high-quality shows.

The story focuses on an FBI agent, Alice Black (Emmy Rossum), who’s on the hunt for a “mysterious and calculating female serial killer”. Who plays the serial killer? You guessed it: Lola Petticrew.

As the logline goes:

Both walk their own paths toward justice, and as their lives start to intertwine, the line between right and wrong begins to blur.

Anyone else of note in it?

Yes – Scoot McNairy (what a name), of Narcos: Mexico and Man on Fire; Jake Lacy, from White Lotus and All Her Fault; and Quincy Tyler Bernstine, from Modern Love.

McNairy plays a police officer helping Alice, Tyler Bernstine is a fellow FBI agent and Lacy is a police officer and a former flame of Alice’s. 

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Tell me more…

Well, what’s interesting is that Furious is “loosely adapted” from the 1987 film The Black Widow, which was directed by Bob Rafelson and starred Debra Winger and Theresa Russell.

Winger played a data analyst with the Department of Justice who became obsessed with a woman (Theresa Russell) who murdered men that she married for money.

Meriweather told Entertainment Weekly that she was inspired to write the series after becoming interested in exploring the psychology of a female serial killer:

“What would lead a woman to become a serial killer?” the writer and executive producer recalls thinking. “What would have had to have happened in her life? And then, similarly, Who is the woman chasing her? What’s going on in her head?” 

Rossum shadowed FBI detectives for the role, and told Entertainment Weekly:

“I think it’s interesting to have a crime thriller where the two female superpowers in the dual lead roles are actually more similar than they are different,” she says. “And of course, Alice and Catherine will start to realize this over the course of the story. They’re both victims of violence who are looking for justice both for themselves and also on a much larger scale in unconventional ways. And because they are constantly underestimated, they are both able to — and have to — work outside the lanes of convention.” 

Anything else we need to know?

Lola Petticrew really impressed at the auditions. Meriweather said in that same interview:

“It was one of those auditions where — and it’s happened a couple times in my career, luckily — where everything goes quiet. You just hear the sound of everything locking into place, because you’re watching an actor just take a part and make it their own. And that is what Lola did in the audition.” 

We’re told that the series will have lots of twists, particularly a big one in the final episode. Plus, the title of the show comes from the Furies of Greek mythology – goddesses seeking vengeance.

So that all gives us a sense that this won’t be your standard cat-and-mouse serial killer investigation. Great stuff indeed.

When can we watch Furious?

Furious premieres on Disney+ on 27 June.

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