How ‘Under The Bridge’ Stars Lily Gladstone and Riley Keough Stripped Sensationalism Out Of Their True Crime Drama Series

In the new true crime dramatic series Under the Bridge, Oscar nominee Lily Gladstone plays Cam Bentland, a police officer who takes an interest in the disappearance of Canadian teen Reena Virk after her colleagues dismiss the troubled girl as a runaway.

Gladstone was initially drawn to Quinn Shephard and Samir Mehta’s series because of Riley Keough’s involvement as a co-star and producer.

Fresh off of Killers of the Flower Moon, which explores the real-life murders of Osage people in the 1920s, Gladstone trusted that Keough and the creative team would handle the true crime story with the “depth and compassion that is necessary.”

She also appreciated that her character is “not the only Indigenous cop on TV right now.” (See also: Dark Winds and True Detective: Night Country.)

Now streaming on Hulu, Under the Bridge tells the story of Virk’s murder at 14 years old when she was severely beaten by a group of her school peers and drowned in the Gorge Waterway.

The eight-part series is based on Rebecca Godfrey’s best-selling book of the same name.

Decider had the opportunity to chat with Gladstone and Keough ahead of the release of Under the Bridge about their respective characters and the “spicy” relationship they develop throughout the series.

Gladstone arrived at the series having done her research.”Knowing what I know about the history of Canada, Indigenous people, adoption, and the systemic, government-driven epidemic that’s known as the ’60 Scoop’ in Canada  – it parallels in the United States as well – I had a feeling, that was confirmed in meeting with Quinn and Samir, that Cam would be an opportunity to have a tight, little arc in one character that can be very self-reflective, and be that conversation of [the] self-indictment of law enforcement,” she said.

“Is it serving the people? Or is it upholding these systems that marginalize some and penalize some while granting forgiveness to others? I thought that was a fascinating arc to tackle,” Gladstone further explained.

Comparing the series to Martin Scorcese and Eric Roth’s Killers of the Flower Moon, which earned Gladstone a Golden Globe for Best Actress, she said, “Doing a piece like this, it was so important that it was built around compassion, and that it deconstructs [in] the way I feel like Killers of the Flower Moon really did.”

Gladstone spoke of the true crime genre, saying that it tends to “benefit [from] the sensationalism around the suspense of who did it.” But Under the Bridge is different.

“It’s more about who was [the crime] done to, and how do we prevent that? How do we protect our most vulnerable and our most marginalized in society from being so vulnerable to crimes like this? How do we hold ourselves accountable in the institutions that we participate in that enable that to happen? So, I saw a real opportunity to do that in a very human, reachable way that can walk through it with the audience,” she said.

In the series, Keough plays Rebecca Godfrey – the late author of the 2005 book that inspired the series. Rebecca returns to her hometown to write a book and finds herself growing close to the teens involved in Virk’s murder case to launch her own investigation. As this plays on, the character is also dealing with the delayed grief of losing her brother. 

“I’ve had experience in similar situations as Rebecca,” Keough said. “I felt that I was more in touch with her character, I guess, in that sense.”

“The version of Rebecca that I was playing was… there are moments where she can feel a little reckless or that she’s not totally considering everyone involved – that would probably be different from me, as a person,” Keough shared. “It was figuring out her and what was motivating her, and I think that she was a little confused. Leaning into that was really helpful.”

Keough praised her character as “written beautifully.”

To balance the heartbreaking crime story, a rocky and awkward relationship is introduced between Gladstone and Keough’s characters. The two were high school friends, and Cam was seemingly close to Rebecca’s late brother.

Teasing their relationship, Gladstone said, “The nature of what our relationship ends up being, you’re able to have a very charged way of dramatizing this conversation of what we represent in all of this in a way that, if you didn’t have this little added element, would just be a sheerly combative relationship, rather than a surprising partnership that develops.”

She adds, “I think it’s the right kind of spicy.”

The first two episodes of Under the Bridge are now streaming on Hulu, with new episodes releasing on Wednesdays through May 29, 2024.