'These two go head-to-head'

Robin Wright and Olivia Cooke front Prime Video's new thriller series, The Girlfriend - where one woman’s suspicions lead her on a deadly path

- WORDS: LAURA CARRENO-MÜLLER

Secrets, suspicion and simmering class tensions drive Prime Video's new six-part thriller The Girlfriend.

Robin Wright takes centre stage both behind and in front of the camera, serving as executive producer and unexpectedly stepping into the role of Laura, a well-heeled mother forced to grapple with her son's dangerously intoxicating new partner.

But American-born Robin insists she never planned to star in the series. "Everybody was going to be British and we couldn't get anybody," she says.

Producer Jonathan Cavendish eventually convinced her. “He goes, ‘Why don't you just play her? Because you understand her,’” Robin, 59, says. The House Of Cards star obliged, going head-to-head with Olivia Cooke's Cherry.

Fresh from House Of The Dragon, Olivia was Robin's first choice. And for Olivia, the combination of script and Robin's involvement was irresistible.

“I love what Robin did as a producer on House Of Cards and as a director in Ozark,” Olivia, 31, says. “To have these two powerful women go head-to-head, it's always delicious.”

The premise is deceptively simple. Laura has everything: a thriving art gallery, a doting husband and a devoted son, Daniel (Laurie Davidson). Then Cherry appears. Bold, magnetic and slightly dangerous, she unsettles Laura’s seemingly perfect world.