A CHALLENGE TO EXPLORE DARK PLACES TOGETHER

CLAIRE DANES AND MATTHEW RHYS CIRCLE EACH OTHER AND CHASE THEIR DEMONS IN A NEW NETFLIX MINISERIES, 'THE BEAST IN ME'

- BY YVONNE VILLARREAL

THERE'S A MOMENT that happens late in the run of “The Beast in Me,” Netflix’s new cat-and-mouse thriller starring Claire Danes and Matthew Rhys as two neighbors with troubling pasts who are drawn to each other's red flags, when levity punctures the tension of the eight-episode series.

All it required was a fitting needle drop, the Talking Heads’ “Psycho Killer,” and some mild dance moves by Rhys. “Was it levity?” Rhy says, his sarcasm on full display. “Did we need to inflict that on an audience? I don’t think so. I'm sure a few people say, ‘What's wrong with his hips?’ Others might say, ‘Those aren't his hips. That's his pelvis. Maybe he had rickets or polio as a child.’ ”¢“Rickets Rhys,” Danes says with a laugh. 1 “Yes, there he is, look at that — calcified knees,” he says.

The pair, talking over video call, are seated next to each other during a press day in New York to discuss the series, now streaming on Netflix, which spends most of its time teetering on the edge of danger. In the show, created by Gabe Rotter (“The X-Files” 2016 reboot), Danes plays Aggie Wiggs, a tormented author grieving the loss of her son, who was under her watch at the time, and is struggling to write her next book — an exploration of the unlikely friendship between Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Antonin Scalia, two legal giants on opposite ends of the political spectrum. She’s drawn into her own curious dynamic with a new neighbor, Nile Jarvis (Rhys), a famed and formidable real estate developer who once was the prime suspect in the killing of his wife. At once fearful and fascinated by him, Aggie makes him the subject of her next book in a bid to chase down his demons while evading her own.

The series reunites Danes, who is among its executive producers, with former “Homeland” collaborator Howard Gordon, who served as the showrunner. He says the series is an extreme version of the present and the mental silos that take shape.