Apple TV+ isn’t through with its big premieres, with Servant creeping onto the streaming service now. The M. Night Shyamalan-produced thriller tells the story of how one family copes with the loss of their child, and how the new nanny turns their grief upside down.
Written by Tony Basgallop, whose thriller credentials include his previous work on 24: Legacy and Berlin Station, the series is sure to have viewers questioning everything they see. The screenwriter sat down with Screen Rant to discuss the genesis of the show, as well as what he has in store for the Turner family in the long run.
Congratulations on Servant. What was the first spark of the story for you, and how was it born?
Tony Basgallop: It was born from having children. You know, I think the moment someone was handing me my baby daughter, I realized that there’s so much that can go wrong that. I could do anything, and I didn’t know what to do.
And I think as a writer, anything new inspires you; all these new experiences. And so, in my early 30s, to have the whole new world open up for me? It was exciting for me, leaning into the danger of parenthood and also the excitement and the beauty of it. That was an inspiring thing.
We see how the show is really about a family dealing with grief, and not as much of a horror story as I was expecting. How do you balance the thriller grace notes with the character study aspect?
Tony Basgallop: I think everything initially comes from character. I think you can’t go into things thinking, “How do I make this scary? How do I make it horror?”
Particularly the horror on TV; it’s slightly an impossible task. Because you can’t keep coming back to the same kind of scares every week. Everything has to be a thriller; it has to come from what the characters are trying to achieve and what they’re trying to avoid. I think the horror moments, when they come, they have more impact.
There are no jump scares. This is something that Night doesn’t do, and I don’t do, and there’s no face just lurking around every corner. Everything has to be true to what these people would do, and what you’d find in a home.
One thing I found interesting was the juxtaposition of opposites. We have Dorothy, who is a journalist, but she’s ignorant of her surroundings in the story. And then with Sean, he’s a chef but he can’t taste right now. How did you come up with that irony? And where are we going with that?
Tony Basgallop: I think it’s organic. I think whenever you give someone a skill, you have to also find that Achilles heel. You have to find the thing they can’t do, because characters can’t just run around solving everything instantly. It’s finding weakness.
Again, like you said, the juxtaposition of Dorothy being a journalist and yet not knowing the story that’s going on in our own home? It’s fantastic irony. I personally find that very funny. And with Sean again, being essentially the man in the house all the time, it’s not something we’re particularly used to. Traditionally, we try and keep the mother at home with the baby, but I wanted to switch that. I wanted to show, having worked from home so much with children and babies around me, it’s a very challenging thing to be able to work and yet keep one eye on a child.
It sounds like you guys have a long-term plan for the story. So, by the end of the first season, how many of the pieces of what happened to Jericho and who Leanne is have we uncovered by the end of the first season?
Tony Basgallop: You’re going to know quite a lot. You are going to know what happened to Jericho, and you’re going to start to understand who Leanne is and where she’s from.
But going forward, there’s so much more. Nothing is entirely resolved here. Grief is something that lasts forever, and nothing comes easy. If you want to rebuild your life, if you want to get that second chance – if it truly exists – these characters are gonna have to work a lot harder than they did in season one.
I think season one just shows there’s a possibility for you to resolve your big issue. Hopefully we’ll have another five seasons to show exactly how.
