His & Hers star Tessa Thompson thinks she might have met her co-star Jon Bernthal before—in another time and space.
The two spoke with Blavity’s Shadow and Act about their new Netflix crime drama, in which they play a journalist and a detective with tense connections to each other and to the case at hand.
However, both Thompson and Bernthal were lighthearted and in sync during the interview, showing clear camaraderie behind the scenes. Thompson said their real-life connection translated to the screen thanks to a lot of honest conversations about their characters’ motivations.
“I think we were trying to figure out our backstory, and we had differing opinions,” she said. “What we figured out at a certain point was that that was actually perfect for these people. That’s what the show is exploring—that inside of any story, there are always opposing views about what went down and how.”
She continued, “But I think we really like our jobs a lot. It’s really nice to do your job with someone else who really likes to do it—someone who shows up and tries new things, where no question is too small and no investigation isn’t worthy. So we just had a lot of fun doing that.”
“I think we approach things in enormously similar ways—and also very different ways as well,” Bernthal added. “But right from the beginning, I felt very welcomed and respected and heard, and I hope Tessa felt the same way.”
“I think we were comfortable enough right from the beginning to kind of go at it—both on set and off,” he said. “And I think that you believe in—”
“Past lives,” Thompson chimed in.
“I don’t know how I feel about that,” Bernthal said. “I mean, I believe in past energy, you know what I mean?”
“I think maybe we had some past energy,” Thompson replied.
“That’s probably right. I’m down with that,” Bernthal said.
“Like, when I met you for the first time, it didn’t feel like I had only met you for the first time,” Thompson added.
A Southern connection
The Atlanta metro area also holds a special connection for Thompson, who serves as an executive producer of the series. She spoke about how meaningful it was to represent the South on screen and film on location.
“I feel lucky that I’ve gotten—mostly through work—to spend a lot of time in the South. My grandfather was from Boley, Oklahoma, and came to Los Angeles and made a family there,” she said. “But it wasn’t until I really started working as an actor that I got to spend time in the South.”
Thompson first spent time in Atlanta while filming Selma.
“I’d been to other parts of the South previously, but I couldn’t believe Atlanta. I was like, ‘This is so cool.’ There are so many people of color—specifically Black people—and different kinds of Black people,” she said. “I remember the first time I stepped into a Whole Foods there and was like, ‘I have never been in a Whole Foods where everyone’s Black.’ I was like, ‘What is this beautiful place? I never want to leave.’ It’s so great, this place—just so incredibly culturally rich.”
Setting Atlanta as the story’s backdrop
She also praised the decision to reset the show’s story in Georgia.
“I felt really excited when I understood that [executive producer and writer William Oldroyd] wanted to reset this book that’s originally set in the U.K. and make it in Atlanta, Georgia,” she said. “That afternoon, I met him on Zoom, then drove immediately to Dahlonega and fell in love with the beauty of that place. It’s really rare—so many things shoot in Georgia, but not many things are actually set in Georgia.”
“So I felt really excited that we got to make something that wanted to talk about that city and how special it is.”
Based on the novel by Alice Feeney, His & Hers premieres on Netflix Jan. 8.