Pieces of Her is an American thriller drama television series created by Charlotte Stoudt, based on the 2018 novel of the same name by Karin Slaughter. The series stars Toni Collette, Bella Heathcote, Jacob Scipio, Omari Hardwick, and David Wenham. It premiered on Netflix on March 4, 2022.
Between February 27, 2022, and April 3, 2022, the series was watched for 227.5 million hours on Netflix, globally, according to Netflix top 10s.
Contents
Premise
Pieces of Her follows the story of Andy (Bella Heathcote), a 30-year-old woman who is caught in a deadly shooting at a local diner. Moments later, she witnesses her mother, Laura (Toni Collette), violently eliminate the threat with ease. As Andy begins to unravel her mother's actions on that day, her perspective on their entire familial relationship takes a new turn. Soon, figures from her mother's past reappear, and she is forced to escape. On the journey, she attempts to find the truth that her mother buried long ago.
Cast and characters
Main
Toni Collette as Laura Oliver, a speech pathologist and breast cancer survivor living in Belle Isle, Georgia, who has a dark past; it is later revealed that her real name is Jane Queller
Bella Heathcote as Andy Oliver, Laura's daughter, who moved back to Georgia take care of her mother
Jacob Scipio as Michael Vargas, a U.S. Marshal who has been protecting Andy
Omari Hardwick as Gordon Oliver, Laura's ex-husband and Andy's stepfather
David Wenham as Jasper Queller, the current CEO of Quellcorp
Jessica Barden as Jane Queller, Laura's younger self in the late 1980s, who was daughter of a powerful pharmaceutical CEO
Joe Dempsie as young Nick Harp, Jane's former lover and the leader of a domestic terrorist group, Army of the Changing World, in the late 1980s
Recurring
Gil Birmingham as Charlie Bass, Laura's Witness Protection Program handler
Terry O'Quinn as Martin Queller, the founder and former CEO of Quellcorp, and the Queller siblings' father
Aaron Jeffery as Nick Harp (present day), Andy's biological father, who has been on the run for 30 years
Nicholas Burton as Andrew Queller, Martin's son, Jane and Jasper's brother
Calum Worthy as Jasper's younger self in the late 1980s
Ewen Leslie as Arthur Gibson
Catherine McClements as Grace Juno
Guests
Ben O'Toole as Young Ali Wexler
Daniel Amalm as Lean Man
Genevieve Lemon as Gloria
Josef Ber as Detective Shooltz
Lasarus Ratuere as Felix Spears
Ling-Hsueh Tang as U.S. Marshall
Production
Development
On February 5, 2019, it was announced that Netflix had given the production an 8-episode series order. The series was created by Charlotte Stoudt, who also serves as showrunner and is executive producer, along with Lesli Linka Glatter and Bruna Papandrea. Production companies involved with the series consist of Made Up Stories and Endeavor Content. Stoudt is also credited as a writer, whilst Minkie Spiro directed all eight episodes. The series premiered on March 4, 2022.
Casting
In February 2020, Toni Collette and Bella Heathcote were cast in starring roles. In May 2020, it was announced that David Wenham was cast in a main role. In January 2021, Jacob Scipio, Omari Hardwick, Jessica Barden, and Joe Dempsie joined the main cast. In February 2021, Gil Birmingham, Terry O’Quinn and Calum Worthy joined the cast in recurring roles. In April 2021, Nicholas Burton and Aaron Jeffery were cast in recurring capacities.
Filming
Principal photography for the series was originally expected to begin on March 16, 2020, and conclude on July 17, 2020, in Burnaby, British Columbia. Following an AU$21.58 million investment from the Australian Government, shared with the production of Spiderhead to boost the local economy during the COVID-19 pandemic, the production was lured to Sydney, Australia, where filming took place in early 2021.
Reception
The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 50% approval rating with an average rating of 5.7/10, based on 34 critic reviews. The website's critics consensus reads, "While Toni Collette heroically tries to bring Pieces of Her together, this lumbering mystery is too bogged down by backstory to satisfyingly cohere." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 52 out of 100 based on 18 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".
Angie Han writing for The Hollywood Reporter praised Collette's performance throughout the series as "fascinating to watch". Han also noted that the series eventually "loses steam" after the first three episodes, describing Heathcote's character as merely "a mechanism propelling the narrative forward" with little to no character development.
