Lily Gladstone’s first acting appearance since her Oscar-nominated performance in Killers of the Flower Moon is just around the corner. She will star in Hulu’s Under the Bridge miniseries, another project that illuminates a true crime case.
While Gladstone has appeared on the small screen before in shows like Billions and Reservation Dogs, this is the first time she will have a leading role in a TV series. Gladstone joined the cast of Under the Bridge in 2022, several months before Killers of the Flower Moon arrived on the big screen. However, there are some similarities between the two projects. Just like Killers of the Flower Moon, Under the Bridge is based on a book and will delve into a horrific crime that has largely been forgotten. The crime in the new series took place in Canada in 1997 and left many confounded on its motive until author Rebecca Godfrey wrote a book on it.
Initially, Godfrey’s book, Under the Bridge, was to be developed into a feature film by Reese Witherspoon’s production company, Type A Films. Although Type A Films optioned the book in 2007, the movie was never made. Finally, in 2022, Hulu announced it was bringing her book to the screen in the form of a miniseries. Sadly, just one week after Hulu officially ordered Under the Bridge, Godfrey passed away from lung cancer. As the show now approaches its release, the trailer raises hope it will honor Godfrey’s legacy and fully capture the significance of her research.
Hulu drops first official trailer for Under the Bridge
Under the Bridge will premiere on Hulu on April 17. The show will have a two-episode premiere and release one episode weekly afterward. Ahead of the premiere, Hulu dropped the show’s first official trailer.
Under the Bridge has quite the cast stacked up. Starring opposite Gladstone’s Bentland is Daisy Jones & the Six star Riley Keough as Godfrey. Euphoria‘s Javon Walton has signed on to portray Warren Glowatski, while child star Vritika Gupta will appear as Reena Virk, the young girl who goes missing in Under the Bridge. The Good Wife‘s Archie Panjabi and Doctor Strange star Ezra Faroque Khan will portray Virk’s mother, Suman Virk, and father, Manjit Virk, respectively.
Rounding out the cast are Matt Craven as Roy Bentland, Michael Buie as George Spiros, Anoop Desai as Raj Masihajjar, Ella Dixon as Marissa Leardi, and Evan Rein as Don Gardner.
The trailer sees Gladstone’s character, Cam Bentland, leading a homicide investigation after the suspicious disappearance of a young girl. While Bentland is miffed when author Godfrey shows up on the scene to research, the writer suggests that people will be more open in their conversations with her than the police. The two women start probing the mystery together, but things take a dark turn when suspicion falls on several young school girls. Viewers can feel the buildup of something dark and dreadful, but the trailer will leave them curious about what exactly is at play.
The official synopsis for Under the Bridge reads:
“Under the Bridge” is based on acclaimed author Rebecca Godfrey’s book about the 1997 true story of fourteen-year old Reena Virk (Vritika Gupta) who went to join friends at a party and never returned home. Through the eyes of Godfrey (Riley Keough) and a local police officer (Lily Gladstone), the series takes us into the hidden world of the young girls accused of the murder — revealing startling truths about the unlikely killer.
Discussion of the real-life case, meaning spoilers for the series, ahead.
The show dramatizes the real-life case of Reena Virk, a 14-year-old girl who attended a party in 1997 near the Craigflower Bridge in Saanich, British Columbia, but never returned home. Her body was found eight days later near George Inlet, with an autopsy revealing she had been badly beaten and drowned. The most chilling part of the case was that the perpetrators were all teenagers. During the investigation, seven teenagers admitted to their involvement in Virk’s assault and murder. The perpetrators were six teenage girls and one teenage boy. Of the group, Warren Glowatski and Kelly Marie Ellard were identified as the perpetrators who actually carried out the murder, and both received life sentences, though they have since been released on parole and day parole, respectively.
The brutality of the crime and the young ages of the victim and murderers shocked the nation. However, no one really got close to understanding how this tragedy occurred until Godfrey wrote her book. Her research delved into the numerous layers of the case and how racism, family dysfunction, social tension, and female rage all potentially played a role in the tragedy. The book condemned the violence while also reminding readers that the case was far more complicated than a random act of violence among teenagers.
It remains to be seen how faithfully Under the Bridge will adapt Godfrey’s work. However, with the strong source material and two phenomenal lead actresses, the project has much potential.
(featured image: Hulu)
