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NEW YORK, Dec. 11 (UPI) -- Fiona Shaw says that Angelica, the bored busybody she plays on Bad Sisters, desperately wants to be included in the titular siblings' family dramas. "She's left out of things," Shaw, 66, told UPI about Angelica in a recent Zoom interview. "I think she's somebody who's an outsider. She doesn't want to be, but she is."
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New episodes of Season 2 of the Irish mystery-dramedy air on Apple TV+ on Wednesdays.
The series follows Grace Garvey (Anne-Marie Duff), who is trying to make a new life for herself after murdering abusive husband John Paul (Claes Bang) in Season 1.
Her sisters -- Eva (Sharon Horgan), Ursula (Eva Birthistle), Bibi (Sarah Greene) and Becka (Eve Hewson) -- try to cover up the crime and support her, but Roger (Michael Smiley) -- the friend Grace initially enlisted to help stage John Paul's death to look like a suicide -- is feeling guilty about what they did and wants to go to the police.
Angelica is Roger's sister, who knows all the secrets and wants to leverage them in a way that she will be included in the Garvey family business.
"In the context of the show, I think she's a perfectly normal person, actually, who has had a few bits of bad luck with men," Shaw said.
"Her husband left her and married somebody else, but she remains married to him in her mind, and she's meanwhile sort of semi-married to her brother."
"She tries to befriend Grace, who's a very nice, vulnerable person, so maybe her own vulnerability is heat-seeking another vulnerable person, and it all goes very wrong."
Duff, 54, said the past two years since John Paul's death have been very hard on Grace.
"She was sort of flayed by her experiences and left skinless, but in the space in between the two seasons, she begins to come up from the water," Duff said.
"She breathes again, and it feels to us, watching her, like: 'Oh, at last, Grace can live. She can have a life.'"
Grace's happiness and sense of freedom are not long-lived, however, as the past comes back to haunt her.
"Of course, with dramatic irony, we know that there's this awful secret that cannot be kept, and there's an inevitability about her downfall," Duff said.
"We don't know what that will be or how it will manifest, but in the beginning she feels the sun on her face, doesn't she? And we love to see that."
The Garvey sisters are a tight-knit bunch who are steadfastly protective of each other, but that doesn't mean they always see eye to eye.
John Paul's murder exacerbates the tension in the feisty family.
"I think it puts a lot of coal in the engine. It's very hot suddenly because there's so much jeopardy for all of them. They have to really rely on each other to keep that secret contained, which is a huge responsibility," Duff said.
"But also, Grace has still kept things from the sisters, and [the siblings] don't get on all the time. I love that they're always around the table quarreling and really against each other."
Duff and Shaw said they appreciate that the series, which Horgan co-created, showcases so many complex, vibrant female characters.
"It's extraordinary, and also my mom said this very interesting thing. My mom is Irish and she said, 'To see five Irish female characters made to look beautiful, and they're allowed to be interesting. They're not standing, peeling potatoes. I think it's very powerful for a lot of Irish women,'" Duff said.
"That's thrilling, isn't it? When you get feedback like that, it feels important," she added.
Shaw said it was a joy to watch the chemistry between the actresses who so are so effortlessly believable as sisters.
"They're so at ease with each other that they finish each other's sentences," Shaw added.
"They tell each other to 'shut up' halfway through [a scene], and I think just observing the human nature of them is very nice for an audience. It is very enjoyable when you know it's so confident. The confidence is wonderful."
