If you haven’t been watching FOX’s new drama Accused every Tuesday night, stop what you’re doing right now and catch up!
The anthology series that’s bound to be your new obsession comes from Executive Producer Howard Gordon (“Homeland,” “24”) and covers intense, topical and exquisitely human stories of crime and punishment. According to FOX, each episode is a fast-paced provocative thriller exploring a different crime, in a different city, with an entirely original cast. It’s based on the BBC’s BAFTA-winning crime anthology, so each episode opens in a courtroom on the defendant, with viewers knowing nothing about their crime or how they ended up on trial.
Told entirely from the defendant’s point of view, audiences sign up for an intense emotional rollercoaster for sixty minutes that will make them think, talk, and ask the eternal question: “What would you do?”
Tonight, viewers will get to see “Morgan’s Story,” which follows a teacher — played by Hawaii Five-0’s Meaghan Rath — who gets arrested under suspicious circumstances while going through a messy divorce. Rath stars alongside Christopher Gorham, who plays her ex-husband Jason Knight, Kashir Amari as her new flame James Ubom and Dennis Andres as brother and accomplice Eric Knight.
“I was sent the script from my team and immediately responded to it. Howard Gordon and the long list of producers and talented people behind it was so appealing,” Meaghan tells Celeb Secrets reporter Juliet Schroder exclusively in a virtual interview about how the role came about. “To do this kind of crime anthology was really interesting in the way that every episode is a little movie; it’s a very exciting thing for an actor to be able to really dive into. So I read the script and really liked it, responded to the character, and left for Toronto for two weeks of night shoots.”
Without giving too much away, Meaghan’s episode ends with a huge cliffhanger which she says was added in at the last minute.
“[The ending] wasn’t part of the original script. They made those changes in later drafts,” Meghan recalls. “It’s so funny because I don’t know if the other episodes end in that way, but it definitely implies that there might be a part two to this story, which is so funny and hilarious and even exciting because without giving anything away, the ending is quite shocking. Part two would be entirely different and maybe more like a manhunt.”
Detailing that the night shoots were very intense, the 36-year-old mentioned to Celeb Secrets that she learned a lot about herself during the challenging process, which, with the help of talented directors and costars, made her tell Morgan’s story in a beautiful way.
“I don’t think I realized how challenging it would be until I was there doing it. The stakes are so high on this show, and so it’s a very hard thing to maintain that level of emotional presence while you’re filming. I think that I got very lucky because I was in really good hands,” Meaghan says. “Our director was so incredible. He’s an actor himself, so was really able to guide us through the process. I definitely felt lucky having someone like that leading the pack because when you jump into a production, it’s a pretty quick shoot and you have to be emotionally ready right away. You don’t have tons of time to shoot everything, so I just felt really lucky that I could trust in the person that was guiding me, which isn’t always the case.”
And while there were a lot of emotions running while filming, Rath says that some of her favorite memories come from spending time with Gorham and Udom, as they all had a great time together when the cameras weren’t rolling.
“The best part was working with these guys. I had known [Chris] for about ten years since we worked together a really long time ago. He’s so lovely and the opposite of the character he plays, so it was so nice to just hang out with him,” Meaghan says with a smile. “And James [Udom], who plays Kashim, is so fantastic. We didn’t know him before, but he is just the nicest, most fun person, such a talented actor. So honestly, the best part was getting to hang out with these people.”
For more on Meaghan’s episode of Accused, watch our full interview below. Don’t forget to let us know if you’re loving Accused by either leaving a reaction at the bottom of the post or sliding into our DMs at @celebsecrets.
New episodes of Accused air every Tuesday at 9PM ET/PT on FOX.
