Mare of Easttown: Why Guy Pearce’s casting was confusing for fans

The creator of Mare of Easttown has admitted that Guy Pearce’s casting in the Kate Winslet-led show caused an unexpected headache.

The creator of Mare of Easttown has admitted that Guy Pearce’s casting in the show might have confused some fans.

The finale of the Kate Winslet show dropped on Binge last night, revealing once and for all who killed Erin McMenamin.

Warning – Spoilers ahead for the Mare of Easttown finale

Going into the finale, many fans suspected Guy Pearce’s character, author Richard Ryan, might have had something to do with the murder. Richard mysteriously arrived in Easttown before the murder and quickly established a relationship with the lead Detective.

Plus, why else would you cast such a well known actor for the role if it turned out he was just a bit player?

But in the end Richard had nothing to do with the murder, and the character even left Easttown halfway through the finale, much to the surprise of some fans.

Guy Pearce’s agent pitching him his character in Mare Of Easttown #MareOfEasttown#GuyPearcepic.twitter.com/J0yZAdbRIG

— Steen Raskopoulos (@steenrasko) May 31, 2021

Guy Pearce in #MareOfEasttownpic.twitter.com/fRSg7GZFH1

— Derek Kudjer (@koojababy) May 31, 2021

The most unbelievable twist in television history is Guy Pearce turning out to just be a genuinely decent, normal dude. #MareOfEasttown

— Julia Troy (@JuliaTroy10) May 24, 2021

Speaking to Vanity Fair, series creator Brad Ingelsby said Pearce became an “accidental red herring”.

“I do understand the suspicion,” Ingelsby said. “Especially because it’s Guy and he’s such a wonderful actor, but, um, but he was always only written as that. It was just a beautiful little relationship that came at the right time in her life that provided some tenderness.”

It turns out Pearce wasn’t originally meant to appear in Mare of Easttown. The role of Richard was given to lesser known actor Ben Miles but he had to pull out due to a scheduling conflict.

Winslet suggested she could ring Pearce whom she had worked with in the past and offer him the role instead.

“She said, ‘Listen, it’s an easy call I can make, we’ll see if Guy would be interested’,” Ingelsby told Vanity Fair.

Pearce told Entertainment Tonight that he couldn’t turn down the offer from Winslet.

“To have Kate call me and say, ‘I’m doing a show. You have to come and play this role. This is the story. This is the connection between the two characters’. I just go, ‘Well, yes’,” Pearce said.

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Kate Winslet and Guy Pearce in Mare of Easttown.

Other fun facts about Mare of Easttown

• Kate Winslet had a childhood crush on Guy Pearce: Speaking to The Australian, Winslet said: “When I first met Guy in 2010, when we did Mildred Pierce together, I walked into rehearsal room on the first day, dropped all my bags, and I said: ‘Before you say anything, please don’t speak. I have to come clean … I have been in love with you since I was 11. And I know that we share the same birthday, that we’re both Libra. And I’ve also known that since I was 11 as well.”

The two actors had to quarantine together for 10 days during filming and Winslet discovered some of Pearce’s eccentricities.

“He’s obsessive, in a great way, about recycling,” Winslet told The Australian. “There would be days when he’d be like: ‘Darling, you can’t just put a chickpea can in the trash … Look, Kate, come on, we have to go through this.’ Suddenly, I’m going through the bins with Mike from Neighbours. Just gotta say: Wasn’t in the fantasy. I’m not happy about this situation at all … You’re ruining it, darl.”

Kate Winslet in Mare of Easttown. Picture: HBO/Binge

• Kate Winslet insisted her trailer was the same size as other cast members: Winslet is not a fan of status symbols on set and made sure she received no special treatment.

“I remember telling our producer Mark Roybal, about a week before we started, ‘Oh, just quickly, it’s very, very important to me that you know this: I don’t know how the process works with booking trucks and equipment, but if I arrive on day one and I have a trailer that’s bigger than everyone else’s, no matter what it says on my contract, I will actually cry,” Winslet told IndieWire. “And then they changed everything! Because, sure enough, there was a trailer that I was supposed to have that was bigger, and then there were probably two or three other cast members [who were set up to] have the same as me, and I said, ‘No, we’re not doing any of that, none of that! Everyone is having the same!’”

• Evan Peters was stunned by Kate Winslet’s preparation: The actor who played Detective Colin Zabel told Vanity Fair just how incredibly detail-oriented Winslet was on set.

“She would walk up to me and be like, ‘Okay, so it’s 2:38pm. We just came from the deacon’s place, and we probably stopped for a coffee and lunch. Now we’re here and we’re doing this thing.’ I would look at her and be like, ‘Was I supposed to do that? I didn’t prepare like that,’” Peters said.

Kate and Evan. Picture: BINGE