Emily Deschanel and Devil in Ohio boss talk the show's satanic cult, family drama — and their college reunion
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Life has a funny way of coming full circle, at least if you're Devil in Ohio showrunner Daria Polatin and star Emily Deschanel.
The two attended the Boston University College of Fine Arts together, where they studied theater. They kept in touch a little bit after school, but then lost contact over the years. However, they kept tabs on each other's work from afar — Deschanel says she bought Polatin's book, on which the Netflix series is based — and when she was cast in its adaptation, it was one big reunion for the two.
"Daria was studying acting, as was I, so I think we both imagined probably being in plays together, but not that she would create the show and write this show and create this whole world. And then I would get to play a part like this. No, not in your wildest dreams," Deschanel says. "It's amazing how life takes twists and turns I think."
Like the book, the eight-episode series follows the Mathis family, who is forever changed when matriarch Suzanne (Deschanel), a hospital psychiatrist, takes in a young patient who escaped a satanic cult. Suzanne is determined to protect this patient, Mae (Madeleine Arthur), from her terrible past at any cost, putting her own life and family in danger in the process. Sam Jaeger, Gerardo Celasco, Xaria Dotson, Alisha Newton, and Naomi Tan also star.
However, unlike the book, the series is told more through Suzanne's eyes than her daughter Jules' (Dotson), which allowed Polatin to play more with other aspects of the story. "It's like a companion piece. They're sort of different points of view. The book is more through Jules' point of view, and very interior, we're very inside her head. And then for the series, we got to open it up and look at the show and story through Suzanne's eyes, which was so much fun creatively," Polatin explains.
The result is a show that is all at once a family drama, a creepy cult tale, and a coming-of-age story. It's inspired by a true story told to executive producer Rachel Miller, but Polatin is quick to point out it's not a documentary. "It's inspired by true events, but we freed ourselves up creatively to see where the show goes," she admits.
Netflix Emily Deschanel as Suzanne in 'Devil in Ohio'
For instance, Polatin and her writers room decided to create their own satanic cult for the series, and did countless hours of research to do so. "We built all the details of the cult, all of their ideology, we made it up and their history, and we wrote like a huge document that we gave to all of our heads of departments, our costume designer, our set designer," she explains. "We even wrote part of the Book of Covenants, their 'Bible,' and we wrote like Bible stories, because we really wanted it to, even though it is fictional, we wanted it to feel real and specific. We put a lot of thought and effort into making something unique and grounded that we hadn't seen exactly before."
Though she's a self-described skeptic who doesn't believe in the devil, Deschanel says it was hard not to get creeped out while working on the show. "That's disturbing that people would [worship the devil]," she says. "There's certain elements sometimes being on set, you'd be like, 'Oh, this is kind of creepy,' even though I don't believe any of this is real, but you can't help feeling a bit creeped out at times by the subject matter."
For as much as it is a suspenseful thriller about a cult, Devil in Ohio is equally a story about a family, and the generational trauma at the heart of it, which the former Bones star says she was excited to tackle as an actor. "Obviously, those two worlds kind of come together in this show in the story, where you have someone who is escaping a cult background and then that collides with a family drama, where maybe things aren't as perfect as they seem from the outside, and maybe there's some things happening already in the family," Deschanel says. "I found it fascinating to kind of explore how fragile things can be, how fragile relationships can be, and families can be, and even our own psychology or psyche can be, and how one element can come in and change things in a very impactful way. I found that really fascinating."
For more on Polatin and Deschanel's college reunion and what to expect from Devil in Ohio (streaming now on Netflix), check out the full video above.
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