The Girlfriend: Olivia Cooke and Robin Wright break down conflict in Prime Video’s upcoming psychological thriller

The Girlfriend is set to captivate viewers as a six-part psychological thriller filled with distrust, perception, and ultimately a desire for revenge in a deadly rivalry. The series revolves around the fraught relationship between Laura, a mother who is downright suspicious about her son's new girlfriend, who has a shadowy history.

Arriving on Prime Video, The Girlfriend mixes suspense, drama, and psychological intrigue, peeling back the layers of the web of feelings and power play that represent Laura and Cherry’s relationship. With its intricate storytelling, the series provides a deep dive into family, ambition, and the lengths we will all go to for love, success, and revenge, ensuring it is not to be missed in the psychological thriller genre.

The Girlfriend explores dark family conflicts in Prime Video’s psychological thriller

The main plot of The Girlfriend revolves around the increasingly bitter relationship between Laura and Cherry. Robin Wright, who directed three episodes, told TV Insider:

“It is the way different people perceive the way someone said this line. Maybe it was a statement and not a question, but it was a question to the other person. We were playing with that so much of the time so that you could see the scene in a different way, the way somebody else perceived it. And then you choose as an audience member what to believe.”

Olivia Cooke further added:

“Their emotions are so acute. Whenever emotions get in the way of facts, it always leads to discrepancy. So I don’t think they can [be trusted to tell the truth]. It’s all in such a heightened state, and also they’re vying for Daniel’s loyalty and affection. Even in their point of views, it goes beyond the point of truth. We are beyond facts. We’re in a post-truth world when it becomes so emotional towards the end, especially.”

As the narrative unravels, viewers are sucked into a maze of lies, manipulation, and intense emotion. Each episode is told from the second-person perspectives of both women. It keeps the audience in the play, making them wonder what is real and what is not, making the show's own reality subjective instead of objective.

Both actresses highlight how the conflict fuels a relentless energy, with Cooke noting:

“Laura has the same energy for vengeance as Cherry does. That is an engine that will never run out of gas. Usually, Cherry is like a dog with a bone. Usually, people will just give up and roll over, but not Laura. Energetically, they are very well met.”

The actors’ reflections underline that the psychological conflict is as much about emotional stakes as it is about uncovering hidden truths.

The Girlfriend: Plot, premiere, and production details

The Girlfriend follows Laura, whose slightly peachy life starts to rot when her son Daniel turns up with Cherry, a girlfriend with a murky past. Laura becomes convinced that Cherry has a secret, and starts to wonder whether Cherry is a manipulative social climber or if Laura is simply paranoid.

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The show’s narrative structure switches between the perspectives of both women, ensuring that the truth is relative, bound by individual experience. Cherry, who is from a background as less privileged as Daniel’s, has to win the approval of his family and pretend that some elements of her background don’t exist, lest they disqualify her from their lives.

The Girlfriend is produced for television by Imaginarium Productions, Amazon MGM Studios, while Naomi Sheldon and Gabbie Asher are the writers for the adaptation.

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