The Big Picture

Darby Hart, a Gen Z amateur sleuth, takes on the challenge of solving a murder mystery at a secluded retreat in the seven-episode limited series A Murder at the End of the World. Emma Corrin found Darby Hart to be an endlessly interesting character to play, enjoying the opportunity to delve deep into her backstory and explore her growth and vulnerability. Corrin’s portrayal of Darby involved distinguishing between two different timelines through changes in physicality and voice, showcasing the character’s confidence and resilience in her youth and her more closed-off nature as she grows older.

Written and directed by Brit Marling and Zal Batmanglij, the seven-episode FX limited series A Murder at the End of the World (which is streaming at Hulu) follows amateur sleuth Darby Hart (Emma Corrin), as her past collides with her present and she becomes determined to solve a murder mystery with a growing body count. When the tech-savvy hacker is invited to a retreat at a remote location in Iceland, she’s impressed by the caliber of the other attendees until their reclusive billionaire host (Clive Owen) makes them all wonder if something else is really going on.

During this 1-on-1 interview with Collider, Corrin talked about telling a story with a classic Brit & Zal twist, why they loved playing Darby Hart, what sets her apart from other characters in the detective genre, the blessing of getting to delve deep into Darby’s backstory, what they did to keep the different ages distinct, the dynamic between Darby and Bill (Harris Dickinson), the experience of working alongside Marling, and the biggest challenge in shooting the limited series. Corrin also shared their excitement about getting to return to the filming of Deadpool 3, now that the SAG-AFTRA strike has ended.

A Murder at the End of the World Darby Hart, a Gen Z amateur sleuth, attempts to solve a murder at a secluded retreat. Release Date November 14, 2023 Cast Emma Corrin, Alice Braga, Clive Owen, Harris Dickinson Main Genre Drama Seasons 1 Creator Zal Batmanglij, Brit Marling
Collider: I loved this series and I loved your character. I would absolutely be down to watch a Darby Hart mystery show where you investigate a different set of murders. Would you ever want to play this character again? If Brit Marling and Zal Batmanglij came to you with that idea, or another idea, would you want to do more with Darby?

EMMA CORRIN: Yeah, absolutely. I found her the most wonderful character to play. She was so endlessly interesting to me and very different from myself. I found that really refreshing and a challenge and, yeah, I would definitely play her again.

Image via FX Networks

What Makes Darby Such a Refreshing Character in the Detective Genre?
She would be someone that would be so fun to watch get thrown into various situations. She’s also been referred to as a Gen Z Sherlock Holmes. Do you view her that way, at all? How do you view Darby?

CORRIN: I get very confused by the Gen Z thing. What I interpret from that is that she’s very modern and relatable, and I think that is what initially intrigued me so much or endeared me so much to this character. It’s a very refreshing take on a detective at the helm of this kind of story. Sometimes she’s on top of the world and she has all the answers. And then, the next minute, she is at the lowest of lows and is vulnerable and needs to ask for help. In fact, a lot of the series, she’s incredibly lost, both in the case and also in herself, and I found that really refreshing and really relatable because I don’t think you really get that in murder mysteries. Normally, you have quite a hard, very jaded, constantly swearing – and this is very generalized – detective. This is someone young, female and modern.

Did it feel like you had a very special opportunity with a character like this, where you were able to dig into these two timelines simultaneously? What is an opportunity to get to explore someone like that like, as an actor?

CORRIN: I loved it. It was such a blessing because I feel like normally when you get a character, especially if they’re fictitious, you spend a lot of time building up your own backstory for them. And here was an incredible backstory that was actually on the page and I got to play, as well. I think young Darby is written so cleverly because she’s so different from older Darby, but they definitely inform each other. It makes the whole story overall a murder mystery, but also so much more than that. It’s also about someone finding themselves again. Darby has to confront the fact that she’s lost a lot of those parts of her that she had when she was younger, and she’s become more shut off and skeptical and cynical about the world, which keeps her safe, but it’s isolating. In that way, it adds another facet, which is really interesting.

Image via FX Networks

Getting the Opportunity to Explore Her Character in Two Timelines
Aside from the obvious difference in hair, were there things that you wanted to do with your performance or even with your physicality between those two different timelines?

CORRIN: Young Derby has a bit of a higher voice and the physicality is a bit more open and ready for the world. Whereas when she’s older, she’s a bit more shut off and a bit like, “I don’t care. I don’t want to engage.” Young Darby is more confident. She’s yet to be knocked down by the world, in the way that heartbreak knocks you down.

It was so fascinating to watch your performance in both of those timelines because we never stayed too long in one without then switching over to the other, and it was just so interesting to be able to compare the two of them.

CORRIN: Yeah, the balance was really clever, how they did that.

What did you most enjoy about exploring this dynamic between Darby and Bill? It’s such an interesting relationship and a challenging relationship. There’s so much happening, even though they’re not saying it to each other. What did you enjoy about exploring that?

CORRIN: Firstly, Harris [Dickinson] is the most incredible scene partner I could ever have wished for and the most incredible friend. It was a hard shoot. Utah was such a wonderful respite from everything. It was so much fun to get to go on a road trip with a smaller crew and just really explore, in depth, that relationship. It’s so complex, their relationship, because they have so much love for each other, but it’s what Bill says, it’s both too much and not enough. That’s the most heartbreaking. I always hear that in my head when I’m out and about now. I think it’s the most incredible line because sometimes both things can be true. Bill is very emotionally intelligent, in a way that maybe Darby isn’t. Also, that’s a flaw in herself that Darby knows, deep down, and then is reconfirmed when she sees Bill again at the retreat. She has to then spend the rest of the series really coming to terms with that.

This series is so interesting because it feels like this familiar idea of being reunited with someone you loved or cared about, but for whatever reason, you become estranged from them. That seems like a very simple and basic idea, but when you put a familiar seeming story into unfamiliar surroundings, it makes it so much more interesting to watch.

CORRIN: It’s the classic Brit and Zal very, very clever twist on something. You think you’ve seen it before, but actually, you’ve never quite seen it like this, or never really thought about it like this.

The Energy Co-Creator Brit Marling Creates On Set
What was it like to work with Brit on this? She co-created the series and co-wrote it, and then she was also trading off directing with Zal and was acting alongside you. How did you find that experience?

CORRIN: Amazing. I don’t know how she does it all and remains the most calm person that I’ve ever met. She has this way, on set, of whispering or talking really quietly to everyone when she’s giving them instructions, and it means that everyone on set immediately brings everything down, so the energy is completely delicate and focused. It’s really remarkable. I’ve never been on a set with that kind of energy, and I loved that. It was wonderful to be acting with her, as well. It was such an honor because I think she’s just incredible. I don’t know how she does it.

Were things very seamless between her and Zal when they were trading off on directing, or do they have different approaches?

CORRIN: They have very different approaches to directing, but we were shooting this for so long, it was nice to have those different energies. The thing about their collaboration is that they do complement each other so well.

Image via FX Networks 

What Was the Biggest Physical Challenge?
There’s a lot of physical work for you in this, and there are some big stunt scenes and, and sequences, but what looks like the biggest or that it might be the most challenging doesn’t always mean that it really feels that way to the person doing it. So, what was the biggest or most challenging thing for you to do in this?

CORRIN: I don’t know if I can talk about some of the biggest ones because of spoilers, but certainly the work we did in Iceland in the snow, in those subzero temperatures climbing up mountains, and the snowmobile work we did out there, I’d never done anything like that. It is really challenging, that environment, when you’re out in the frozen tundra with this biting wind and it’s subzero. There is so much stuff you have to actively do to try to keep yourself alive, like constantly hydrate even though you’re not thirsty when you’re cold and constantly making sure you’ve eaten. It’s a lot. And I’m very bad in the cold. I get cold very easily, so that was a real challenge for me to be shooting out there, but I loved it.

Now that the SAG-AFTRA strike has ended, are you excited to be able to get back to filming Deadpool 3?

CORRIN: Yeah, I’m really, really excited. It’s an amazing team on that project and I’m really happy that we can get back to it.

The FX series A Murder at the End of the World is available to stream at Hulu.

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