Julie Bowen has been hesitant to take on more “mother” roles, except for the new Peacock series Hysteria! offered her the chance to break free from typecasting.
“I really like working, and I didn’t think anyone wanted to see me play Claire Dunphy on a show that wasn’t. Modern Family,” she told Yahoo Entertainment. “I had to challenge myself to get out of that space and convince viewers to come along.”
Bowen played the matriarch of an eccentric family for 11 years on the Emmy-winning ABC series. In the 80’s show Hysteria!, she plays the mother of a high school musician whose heavy metal bandmates leaned into the occult aesthetic during the Satanic Panic. Their small town is then plagued by mysterious events that point to them.
“[She] starts out as mom, and you think she’s normal, but then we take a really sharp left turn,” Bowen said. “For the first two-thirds of the pilot, I thought the mom wouldn’t have any fun – the kids have all the fun… but then I kept reading.”
Her character performs a series of captivating stunts, all but two completed by the actress herself. That’s something she’s happily learned from her time as a sitcom star.
“On Modern family, “I never thought I could tell a joke, but I knew I could fall,” she said. “I’ve always leaned on physical things.”
Hysteria! has its comedic moments, but Bowen said it’s more of a “fun pop thriller.”
“It’s a show about what happens in a small town when everyone gets misinformation and it spreads like wildfire,” she said. “God bless Peacock for making us take a really big swing.”
Bruce campbell, a horror icon best known for his starring role in the Evil Death film series, plays the city’s police chief. He is skeptical that recent crimes are supernatural, as some citizens claim.
“I can identify with this character who says, ‘Okay, there has to be a logical explanation for this,’” he told Yahoo Entertainment. “But that’s not always the case, and this is where the fun begins.”
Campbell noted that during the Satanic Panic, many real people sincerely believed that “Satan is at the door, ready to invade at any moment,” which he said must have been “disturbing,” although that is not what he believes.
‘Maybe I live in ignorance. Maybe Satan is out there. If so, he hasn’t rung the doorbell for 66 years and I hope to keep him away a little longer,” Campbell said.
Anna Camp plays a parent who contributes to the spread of supernatural rumors. She told Yahoo Entertainment that the satanic panic series is particularly relevant right now.
“People are still talking about censorship of books and music, and we’re not there yet,” she said. “[The show] provides a place to go back and reexamine how we got through it.
Camp said the way the high school students entered Hysteria! The clash with their parents has long been a recognizable struggle because “each generation rebels against the one before it.”
“We’re always coming up with new things in pop culture … that challenge the status quo,” she said. “I mean, who doesn’t like heavy metal, rock ‘n’ roll, messing with your parents and rebelling, right?”
All eight episodes of Hysteria! are now streaming on Peacock.
