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Interview with Amanda Seyfried: “Darkness is reality”
We adored her in Mean Girls and Jennifer’s Body. Now, American actress Amanda Seyfried is the star of a gripping crime series streaming on HBO Max since 2025. Titled Long Bright River, the show explores addiction, single parenting, motherhood and complex family ties with sensitivity. The star is also set to make waves soon with the film The Housekeeper, scheduled for release in December 2025. During her last visit to Paris, Amanda Seyfried spoke to Numéro about this new chapter in her career.
By Violaine Schütz.
Since her early roles in House, Veronica Mars, and Mean Girls (2004), the former American model Amanda Seyfried has established herself as one of Hollywood’s most talented and endearing actresses. Audiences grew up with cult films, like Mamma Mia!, Jennifer’s Body, Letters to Juliet. Her performances in Chloe (2009), The Dropout (2022), and David Fincher’s Mank (2020), which earned her an Oscar nomination, also captivated thousands of viewers.
Beyond her acting skills and magnetic presence, Amanda Seyfried, 40, is a fascinating personality off-screen too. Between shoots, she lives on a farm surrounded by animals and crochets while watching The Bachelor. She also has an impressive musical talent as a singer and musician. On The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, the star of The Testament of Ann Lee (2025) recently amazed audiences with a soft rendition of a Joni Mitchell song, which she also played on the dulcimer – a string instrument.
Amanda Seyfried made a big comeback in 2025
But since March 2025, the Time Out (2011) actress has been spotted in one of the year’s best shows, titled Long Bright River. Amanda Seyfried embodies Mickey, a police officer investigating a series of murders of local sex workers in a poor neighborhood of Philadelphia devastated by the opioid crisis.
In a dark, emotional tone reminiscent of the brilliant Mare of Easttown, starring Kate Winslet, the show stages a complex female character. A single mother, haunted by her sister’s addiction and her own traumas, who must face her demons all the while trying to crack a difficult case.
With the release of this gripping crime series on HBO Max and the upcoming premiere of the feature film, The Housemaid, on December 24th, 2025, Numéro sat down with the Emmy Award-winning actress.
Interview with actress Amanda Seyfried, star of Long Bright River
Numéro: What first caught your attention in the series Long Bright River?
Amanda Seyfried: It was really fun. Well, dark, but fun. It’s the kind of show you want to watch on rainy days. Actually, I’d never had the chance to play a cop before. And I thought it would be really interesting to wear the uniform on screen. You know, it is gratifying to wear it, even if you’re not an actual police officer. People dress up as cops for Halloween. My kids do too. It’s an iconic character.
Did you meet with police officers in order for your role to be as realistic as possible?
Yes, I went to Kensington district in Philadelphia last January, before the filming began. Nikki Toscano, the show’s creator, and Liz Moore, who wrote the novel the series is based on, came with me too. She also helped write the film adaptation of Long Brigh River. Some of our producers were there as well. We met up, and then we got a tour of a precinct. The one we use in the series is an exact replica of the police station we visited in Philadelphia. There, I met a lot of police officers.
“I’ve stayed in touch with one of the police officers while shooting the series.” – Amanda Seyfried
I believe you also shadowed them on the job, including during patrols…
Yes, I went on a ride-along with them. I watched them go about their day and work. It was truly wild. The things police officers deal with on a daily basis are just incredible. It was very eye-opening to shadow them. I really spent time with them, and I’ve stayed in touch with one of the police officers, who’s a single mother (like Mickey in the series, ed.). She was a tremendous help throughout the filming. We had a great connection, and it really shaped the way I approached people and communicated as a cop in the show.
You grew up in Allentown, Pennsylvania, and the series is set in a nearby location in Philadelphia…
Yes, the show takes place in a place I more or less knew, in Kensington, a district in Philadelphia. I wouldn’t really go to Kensington, but I would go to Philadelphia a lot as a kid, since the place I grew up in was close by. So, it was a world I understood for many personal reasons. And Mickey is a character I connected with to some extent (Amanda Seyfried lost an uncle to addiction, and in the series her sister is a drug addicted, ed.). But she is also a flawed character who challenges me in many ways. I felt it was a great opportunity to develop new acting skills. I also really appreciated the show’s compassionate perspective on addiction. Addiction is portrayed in a way I’ve never seen before.
“Darkness is reality. It’s important to show it and to make clear that there should be space to recover for people struggling with addiction.” – Amanda Seyfried
Long Bright River portrays the dark side of a district in Philadelphia corrupted by violence and the opioid crisis…
Among many other things, the show mainly tackles the opioid crisis and the harsh realities that come with it. We don’t shy away from anything. Darkness is reality. It’s important to show it and to make clear that there should be space to recover for people struggling with addiction. A space for the community to function as it should, instead of being dismissed or swept under the rug. There are so many elements in this series that were necessary to build compassion, because a lot of people don’t know what’s really going on in these neighborhoods. It’s happening in so many places. It’s universal. Every country, every corner of the world has an area like Kensington. The more we know about it, the better.
In your opinion, what are some of the series’ strongest messages? It explores themes like family, marginalization, and motherhood.
A lot of people try to label it a crime drama, but that’s not quite accurate. It’s a series about crimes, about murders (a serial killer is targeting sex workers, ed.), and about people trying to investigate those murders. But above all, it’s a story about a family, and, more generally, about generational trauma, about growing up in a place that’s very diverse and deeply marginalized by law enforcement and the surrounding community. That narrative is told from the point of view of someone who grew up there (Liz Moore, who wrote the book the series is based on, ed.), who has a lot of perspective and compassion, and who wants to protect and support that community.
“Playing characters I want to get to know better is what interests me.” – Amanda Seyfried
In this series, you wear a police uniform and almost no makeup. Was it refreshing to appear in a less glamorous role than the ones you had in Mean Girls, Chloe, or Mank?
What’s refreshing isn’t just that she looks like a regular person doing her job every day – it’s about getting to play different characters. People who make different choices. Playing characters who are compelling and who I want to get to know better is what interests me. But also characters who aren’t similar to the previous ones I played. That kind of variety in the roles I choose is essential. I always say to myself, “I want people to believe me in every role I take on.” And to help that happen, or to make it more likely to happen, I have to keep doing projects that are very different from one another.
Mickey, the character you portray in the show, is very human and complex. Are these personality traits elements that would make you say yes to a role?
Absolutely, yes. The more depth there is in the writing, the more the layers, the better. As actors, we can always create our own backstory for any character. Every role we play, whether it is written that way or not, ends up being multifaceted and complex. Just like people in real life. But the question is whether I have to make everything up myself, or if someone else has already done that work. In this series, it felt like someone had already done it for me. As if they were saying, “This must mean this, and that means that.” It was like a puzzle to solve. Someone else had already written all these little details – the quirks, the ways the character communicates, the tics – and those clues are really informative and fun to uncover.
“I loved working with Sydney Sweeney.” – Amanda Seyfried
This December, audiences will see you alongside Sydney Sweeney in the film The Housemaid, adapted from the best-selling novel of the same name. Can you tell us more about the movie?
It’s something very different from Long Bright River. I really enjoy jumping from one genre to another. The Housemaid is going to be a big event. It belongs to a very specific genre, and we approached it in a very distinctive way. We shot the film earlier this year, and we’re already starting to promote it because it’s based on a very popular book, which was beautifully adapted into a screenplay and filmed. I think that the crazy aspects of the book really come to life in the film. It’s not a secret, anyone who’s read the book knows what is happening. We had a lot of fun on set, and the monster in the movie is terrifying.
I also loved working with Sydney… It was incredibly rewarding. And Paul Feig (Bridesmaids), the director, has a very unique style… I’d wanted to work with him for years, and I was thrilled that it finally happened. I can’t wait for people to see the film. It’s a real thrill ride. I think it’s going to be a hit!
Long Bright River (2025), created by Nikki Toscano and Liz Moore, is available on HBO Max. The Housemaid by Paul Feig, will come out in theatres on December 24th, 2025.
