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Kate Winslet is back on screen in HBO's latest crime drama series called "Mare of Easttown." The show is set in Berwyn, Pennsylvania. Winslet plays the titular role of Mare Sheehan, a small-town detective who was a basketball player.
Mare of Easttown premiered on April 18th and follows Sheehan as she investigates a local murder in Berwyn's Easttown. She is also under public scrutiny for failing to find a missing local girl.
According to HBO, Mare of Easttown,
"Explores the dark side of a close community and provides an authentic examination of how family and past tragedies can define our present."
In addition to Winslet, the series stars Jean Smart (Designing Women, Frasier), Julianne Nicholson (Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Broadwalk Empire), Evan Peters (American Horror Story, Kick-Ass), and Guy Pearce (Memento, The King's Speech), among others.
The series was written and created by Brad Ingelsby, known for films like "The Way Back" and "Our Friend."
While Easttown in the show is fictional, Ingelsby indicated that the location's aesthetic is based on his real hometown of Berwyn, Pennsylvania.
Mare of Easttown is Winslet's first significant television series since HBO's "Mildred Pierce" in 2011. It is also the first time she has been associated with a television series as an executive producer.
Is Mare of Easttown's location a real place?
The real Berwyn is located in Pennsylvania's Easttown township. It has a population of around 3,500, according to Bustle.
Berwyn literally translates to "City of Brotherly Love." It is considered a major port and a manufacturing center for the state of Pennsylvania. It is also Ingelsby's hometown.
In the show, Berwyn is more of an amalgam of different post-industrial centers that depict the nature of America's small towns, with its closeness and claustrophobic nature.
Ingelsby clarified in his interview with Philly Mag that while the series is shot in and around Easttown, some of it may not be rooted in reality. He further elaborated that,
"We did shoot some of the show in Easttown, as well as in Coatesville, Aston, and Drexel Hill, but we really captured more of a blue-collar vibe than you get in the real Easttown."
Ingelsby is confident that he will get "some real grief from actual Easttowners" over things he got wrong about Berwyn.
Even so, he made sure the series was filmed in locations that would be recognizable to Berwyn's locals, including places like the VFW bar in Sellersville, Girard College, Wissahickon Valley Park, and Pastorius Park in Chestnut Hill.
According to the showrunner, Sheehan's personality is partly based on people close to him, like his father, a former basketball player, and his brother, who played football for Notre Dame.
Ingelsby explained to Philly Mag that,
"I am very interested in what happens after the 'glory days,' and Mare is very much after those days in her life. What does it look like when you arrive at a dead-end?"
Is Berwyn the only fictionalized town on TV?
Many iconic shows feature towns that can be considered characters in their own right.
Shows like "Gilmore Girls" was based in Stars Hollow, "The Vampire Diaries" was based in Mystic Falls, "Buffy, the Vampire Slayer" was based in Sunnydale. In every show, the location was a big part of the narrative. By far, most of these locations are fictional, yet they drew aesthetic inspiration from real locations.
This is not the case with Berwyn, which can be called a creative caricature of the real town. Interestingly, Berwyn is not alone in that aspect.
On HBO's popular show "Fargo," the small town of Bemidji, Minnesota, plays a central role in the show's first season. Showrunner Noah Hawley told The Pioneer that he wanted to "emulate a sense of the town in winter." He added that,
"A lot of what happens is ‘people come to town and they leave town’ and there’s this sense of outside elements coming in and turning a town on its head that I really wanted to play with. And Bemidji struck my fancy."
Other depictions, such as that of Berwyn, are much further from the town's actual nature, as in the case of "Mare of Easttown."
The creator's experience of a place being translated into a fictional location can be seen in other popular shows.
Comedy Central's "South Park" is based on the general ambiance of rural Colorado. The show's creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone attended the University of Colorado in Boulder. They spent a lot of time in the state as young adults.
Similarly, the federal penitentiary depicted in the Netflix show "Orange is The New Black" is located in upstate New York. Piper Kerman, the author of the memoir on which the show is based, spent a lot of time in suburban New York.
While the residents of the real Berwyn may appreciate the fictional nature of the town depicted in the show, perhaps they will enjoy newfound attention given HBO's investment in this new series.
Mare of Easttown airs on HBO on Sunday nights at 10/9c. Each episode of the show will also be available on HBO Max as and when it airs.
