Helen Mirren didn't know 'what I was jumping into' as 1923 's Cara Dutton

Before ever hitting the set of 1923, Helen Mirren made an important decision for her character, Cara Dutton. She just needed series — and Yellowstone universe — creator Taylor Sheridan to sign off.

"I asked Taylor if it would be all right if I played her Irish," the Emmy and Oscar winner explains on The Awardist podcast (audio below, video above). "The Irish famine had not been long before. In my character's background, there would've been her knowledge of great, great suffering which would've driven her to the new country. You just look at what they experienced on the boats coming over — just that to have gone through all of that, this was an extraordinary generation."

The character is strong and bold, no doubt — she certainly gets her hands dirty tending to the ranch while her husband Jacob (Harrison Ford) is away...or recovering from near-fatal injuries. In fact, viewers' introduction to Cara is the show's opening scene, where she is chasing a man through the woods with a rifle in hand. When she pulls the trigger and nothing happens, she and the man engage in a speed test to see who can reload their gun the fastest. Spoiler alert: She wins.

Paramount+ Helen Mirren in '1923'

"I didn't read a script when I accepted the role. I knew where it was going to be placed and the rough idea of what the story was, but no script," Mirren explains. "So I sort of jumped in at the deep end, not knowing really what I was jumping into. And when I got the first script and I opened it, there was that scene, and I thought, 'Oh, my God, this is...'" She pauses to laugh. "'Oh boy, here we go.'"

Paramount +

Elsewhere on the podcast, EW editor in chief Patrick Gomez chats with Ghosts stars Utkarsh Ambudkar and Rose McIver (audio and video below) about their different paths to landing their parts on the CBS comedy, the show's dedicated fanbase, and how they technically work around the large ensemble cast of ghosts who McIver's Sam can see, but not Ambudkar's Jay.

"Whether it's matching eyelines or energy levels when people are and aren't on set is very different. Whether it's remembering the sort of placement as somebody barrels past you. Whatever those things are, you just don't want that to get in the way of all of the fun," McIver explains. "It should be invisible and it should be innocuous, all of that technicality.... We have the most patient group of an ensemble who might have one line in a scene and have to do everything with everybody, every time. [We make] sure everybody feels respected to get their chance to do their fun bit."

Ambudkar gives credit to their "directors being extremely prepared," in addition to the quick and skilled work of the production team. That also extends to the writers, who he says leaned into Sam and Jay's partnership versus comically putting them at odds with each other.

"When we are in unison, when we're teamed up — either against a neighbor like the Farnsbys or in pursuit of a feather duster on Halloween — our relationship gets to sing a lot more as opposed to some of the old tropes of sitcoms where the couple is always in contention with one another," he explains. "I think the first couple episodes we had a few spats and we were like, it's just way more fun when we're on the same page and trying to either go against someone or go for something together. I think Sam and Jay found their way in that regard."

Bertrand Calmeau/CBS Rose McIver and Utkarsh Ambudkar on 'Ghosts'

Hear more from both of those interviews below, where EW critic Kristen Baldwin joins the podcast to discuss the drama actress race, whether there should be a dramedy category, and her pick for the shows and actors who should be getting more attention this season.

Check out more from EW's The Awardist, featuring exclusive interviews, analysis, and our podcast diving into all the highlights leading up to all the major award shows.

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Related content:

• Helen Mirren says she was 'so excited' to get into bed with Harrison Ford for 1923

• 1923 star Aminah Nieves on Teonna's journey and telling Indigenous stories: 'We're still here'

• Ghosts' Asher Grodman on the softer, yet still pantless, side of Trevor and that Tara Reid cameo