[Editor's Note: The following contains spoilers for Bodkin Season 1]

The Big Picture

• Bodkin Season 1 stars a trio of sleuths in a comedic thriller uncovering dark secrets in an Irish town.
• The series features character growth as the team faces personal demons while investigating strange occurrences.
• True crime fascination, eels, road bowling, and cold water stunts are highlighted in the behind-the-scenes interview.

All seven episodes of Netflix's Bodkin Season 1 have dropped on the streamer, and we're already ready for Season 2. The series stars Will Forte (MacGruber), Siobhán Cullen (The Dry), and Robyn Cara (Trying) in a comedic thriller created by showrunner Jez Scharf. The show is actually a pretty dark comedy that takes place in a coastal town in Ireland where something sinister is being swept under the proverbial rug, and it gives its three stars a stage to shine on in a new light.

In what's being heralded as Netflix's Only Murders in the Building, this trio of sleuths set out to uncover the secrets of a small, idyllic Irish town. Charmed by the mystery of unsolved disappearances 25 years prior, and in awe of the beautiful Irish countryside, podcast team Gilbert (Forte) and Emmy (Cara) are an optimistic pair looking to dig into a cold case for their series. When they team up with Dove, a journalist looking to solve serious crimes, the very real, very dangerous happenings in Bodkin have them questioning everything, and it turns out the journey may see this ragtag team revealing truths of their own.

In this interview, Collider's Steve Weintraub asks the series' stars where they feel that journey led each of their characters throughout this first season, which has Forte speculating where a potential Season 2 could take us. We also dig into the fascination behind true crime, which has seen a surge in the last decade, that uncomfy bog sequence, and the bizarre lives of eels.

For all this and more, check out the full conversation in the video above or in the transcript below.

Read Our 'Bodkin' Season 1 Review

COLLIDER: The first thing I need to start with and it's probably the most important thing: MacGruber, when did you become such a good actor?

WILL FORTE: Well, I think it was in 15 years from now. That's when I start to become a good actor.

Sorry, I just had to work in MacGruber somehow.

FORTE: Thank you. You know what? I always talk about MacGruber and how if it was up to me, I would just do MacGruber for the rest of my life and be happy. I don't think anybody would give us the opportunity to do that, but this is another thing like that. Bodkin has been such an amazing experience getting to work with these turkeys, and the entire crew and cast were just awesome. Ireland was amazing. I could just go on doing Bodkin forever, so I'm hoping people go out and see it so we can keep hanging out with all these wonderful friends.

'Bodkin' Forces Its Characters to Face Their Demons

One of the things about the ending of the series is that for all three of you all have tremendous character growth through the seven episodes. Can you talk about your reaction to the ending and where your characters each end up?

ROBYN CARA: Emmy, at the start, this is her first time out in the field. She's really keen to please both of these two, and I think she goes on a really big journey where she kind of takes control of her life a little bit more. She kind of knows what she wants at the end and kind of demands it, which is really cool.

SIOBHÁN CULLEN: For Dove, when we first meet her she's going through a career crisis, a personal crisis, and throughout the season, it's nearly like therapy for her. She's kind of forced to face all the damage that she's had in her childhood and forced to kind of question the stories she's been telling herself about herself — what that's made her, the way she is — and that's quite a confronting and challenging thing, I think, for anyone to do, but particularly for Dove, who’s quite a stubborn character.

Will, I'm going to ask you about Dove. I want to get specific. She's lost her job at the newspaper and essentially might be now a podcaster. Do you think she ends up as a podcaster?

FORTE: Maybe a reluctant podcaster? No, I mean…

CULLEN: Would I get the job?

FORTE: Oh, would you get the job?

CULLEN: No, if I interviewed for you as a podcaster? [Laughs]

FORTE: Oh, yes! Of course. That’s never been a question. It's more just, would you let yourself take the job?

CULLEN: No, I don't think so.

FORTE: Yeah, I don't think so either. So, like, why am I going to expend energy trying to…?

CULLEN: Train me up.

FORTE: Except that you’re fantastic.

Did Gilbert Set Us Up for 'Bodkin' Season 2?

Will, I want to ask you specifically, at the end, Gilbert throws his recorder into the water. What do you think he will do next? Or is it one of those things you don't want to answer because maybe it will continue?

FORTE: I think he jumps into the water and goes and fishes it out. He's like, “What’d I fucking do? What’d I do?” And then just jumps in. No, I don't know. There is who Gilbert wants to be and who he really is, and I feel like those people kind of, toward the end, merge a little bit. Who he aspires to be, they meet toward the end, and he's a little more honest about where he is in his life and the power of his actions, how his actions affect other people. So, I don't know. I think he could learn that lesson without throwing the recorder into the water, but that's what we did. [Laughs]

I was actually wondering about that decision just to have it, but that's just me. I had no idea eels were so black market. Is this something that you also learned?

CARA: Yeah.

FORTE: I didn’t know that.

CULLEN: I learned so much about eels on this job, which was a real surprise.

CARA: Not expected. [Laughs]

CULLEN: A real curveball. I didn't realize I'd be learning so much about eels. They're fascinating. There are so many we don't know about eels. We still haven't learned how eels mate, they can live on land.

CARA: It’s wild.

FORTE: That reminds me, though — this, I guess, tangentially has to do with eels — but Siobhán would always be the one who would have to get into the water and just be subjected to all these really cold things.

CARA: And we’re just watching, like, “Oh!”

FORTE: We’re just sitting there in our warm clothes, and she has to get down in, like, a tank top and underwear, and it was slowly going into the water on a very cold day.

CULLEN: I love it.

FORTE: It was pretty impressive to watch.

I actually wanted to ask you specifically about that bog sequence. When you read that in the script and then you show up on set and see what you're going to be doing, how much are you like, “Oh, this is not going to be fun?”

CULLEN: I love that stuff. I also love sea swimming and cold water swimming, so any time you get to do, I think, any kind of stunt or fight choreography or swimming in a bog, I think it's a cool opportunity because to get to do that for work is kind of brilliant. And it's always done safely, and you've loads of people minding you, so it's fun. It’s brilliant.

FORTE: By the way, I love sea swimming and I make it a point to go in and do that as much as possible, and I still, on that day, was like, “Oh, I'm so thankful that’s her and not me having to do this.”

CARA: [Laughs] Me too.

Something else I did not know until I watched this series was road bowling. What is the secret — maybe you learned — to being good at road bowling, and had you heard of this sport before?

CARA: Never heard of it, but we actually had the — was he the champion?

CULLEN: We had something like the champion road bowler on set with us, and he’s in the show. The guys that you see throwing the ball are real champion road bowlers. They were great to watch. It seems like you just need a really strong arm and a bit of patience.

FORTE: It really did seem very fun. I do want to go and actually do an actual one.

Why Are We All So Fascinated With True Crime?

For the three of you, I'm sure you've been asked this before, but true crime podcasts and the Datelines and everything, it's all so popular right now. What do you think it is about that genre that resonates with so many people, and did you listen to one or two specific things prior to the shoot?

CULLEN: People love true crime, and I include myself among them. I think it's so fascinating when you realize that facts can be stranger than fiction. To hear those real-life stories can be kind of a dark and sick fascination in us, but we're all kind of drawn to them. I, for one, listen to a lot of podcasts and some of them are true crime for sure. I listen to a lot of Serial. What other good ones do I like?

CARA: West Cork.

CULLEN: West Cork itself is brilliant. The podcast called West Cork. Yeah, I love it.

CARA: I listen to a bit of Serial, as well. It wasn't for me. I don't know why. I couldn't get on board with a true crime podcast. It’s scary for me. [Laughs]

FORTE: I also listen to Serial, and this isn't a podcast but I do watch a ton of Forensic Files. I just get sucked into those, like, while I'm doing the dishes late at night or something. I think, also, there’s part of it that’s like, “Oh my god.” It makes you feel good about your own life. Like, “Oh, I haven't been murdered, so I’m, like, a step above. Things could be worse. I could be murdered by somebody I thought loved me.”

CULLEN: You're so lucky to be doing the dishes.

FORTE: It's always the spouse.

Bodkin Season 1 is available to stream on Netflix now.

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