Kerrry Washington and Joel Kinnaman in 'Imperfect Women.'

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[This article contains spoilers through episode three of Imperfect Women.]

Joel Kinnaman’s Robert Hennessy gives the title of Apple TV‘s Imperfect Women a run for its money. In the second episode of the adapted psychological thriller, the alcoholic widow of Kate Mara‘s Nancy crosses a line that should never have been crossed when he sleeps with Eleanor, his recently murdered wife’s longtime best friend, played by Kerry Washington. Yet it’s a transgression audiences might be able to overlook if Robert shared the same decades-long longing for Eleanor as she does for him. Or if in episode three’s “Monster,” he didn’t recoil at the touch of Eleanor’s hand on his arm as she relays her grand plan to put out a joint statement denying their involvement and not immediately “go public” with their romance after Robert’s daughter Cora catches them in the pool together and exposes them on TikTok.

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It’s that move, and Robert’s subsequent explanation that he’s been advised by his attorneys to cut all communication with Eleanor, that calls into question his declaration that he’s not a monster earlier in the episode when Eleanor finds a letter he’d written to Nancy admitting he was aware of the affair he pretended not to know about. It’s one that dredges up sympathy (if little more than an ounce) for Eleanor as well, who, through held-back tears, tells Robert she believed the connection between them was finally made real after all these years. It also provides a motive for Robert as Nancy’s killer, which is exactly what the writers were going for.

“We had a lot of fun making the show and constantly modulating what the audience was going to think,” Elisabeth Moss, who’s an executive producer and who stars as Nancy and Eleanor’s friend Mary, tells The Hollywood Reporter in the conversation below. “There are times when we wanted to push them being more suspicious of Eleanor, times when we wanted to push them to be suspicious of Robert, and really going back and forth with that, not only in the shooting, but in post and playing with that throughout the season and constantly changing it.”

Below, Mara, Moss and Washington discuss not judging their characters’ questionable behavior, whether the women at the center of the series are actually friends and what the show has taught them about secrets.

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Elisabeth, this series began with you optioning Araminta Hall’s novel. Did you always see yourself starring, and was Mary the character you were initially most drawn to portraying?

ELISABETH MOSS Yep. I wanted to play Mary. I knew I wasn’t going to be Nancy. I knew I didn’t have what it was going to take to be Nancy, so it was between Eleanor and Mary. I was very much in the middle of playing June [in The Handmaid’s Tale] at the time. It was 2019, and I continued to be in the middle of that for the next six years. There was something about Mary that I just felt was different. I was very attracted to that idea, and I’m very, very happy with the choice. I also loved the idea of being part of an ensemble. I loved the idea of being able to go to a great actress and say, “Hey, will you lead this show?” I loved being able to collaborate in that way with another actress. And then of course, to have a third was even more exciting. To be able to split the show between us was something I hadn’t done that I was very, very interested in.

What was the experience like of finding your chemistry as these women who are worn-in friends, but also, in some ways, don’t know a lot about each other?

KATE MARA It was really easy for us to find our way, even though we didn’t have the time to actually cultivate this chemistry or bond before we started filming. We got really lucky. I think we all had a feeling that it would work, and it was so effortless from day one.

KERRY WASHINGTON I always think a big part of chemistry is respect because when you have that, then there is the freedom to spark together. There was so much respect and admiration here. The chemistry was immediate.

MOSS We’ve all been doing this for pretty much around the same length of time so when you watch someone’s career, you get an idea of what’s important to them and who they might be, especially when you’re watchin

'Imperfect Women': Elisabeth Moss, Kerry Washington, Kate Mara Interview