‘The Better Sister’ Stars Jessica Biel And Elizabeth Banks Reveal Their Real-Life Sisterly Bond
Hi, we’re the Better Sister team and this is the Prime [Music] Experience. I was reading the script, reading the book. Elizabeth was reading the scripts, reading the book. we kind of knew about each other that we were both sort of, you know, thinking and trying to figure it out who were we going to do it. And so that is kind of how it all began. Good summary. We read really good material and we got sent these books and we got called by Craig Gillespie who directed our pilot who, you know, sort of pitched us on the characters and the world that we were going to access and then we read the book. Yeah. So, we sort of knew big picture what was going on. And then we got to talk to our all of our producers and these fine ladies about all the ways that they were going to adapt it and expand it and grow it and breathe more and more life into it. And it seemed juicy from jump to me. I mean, really like that the sisterhood was the central relationship of a who done it show. I just felt like it was really unique in that way. this dude. I think anytime is a good time to adopt an Alfair Burke book. No, but I, you know, I think the second we read it, we felt like, well, we got to do this, you know? I mean, it really grips you in that way. I think exactly as Elizabeth said, the sisterhood as the central story, I think both Regina and I are so drawn to stories about family, about sisterhood, and this idea of what does it mean to have different experiences of your parents? How does that determine who you are in the rest of your life? And I think that Alfair gives you this incredible foundation to jump off from and then you’re able to explore. The more we got to know the characters, the more that we started collaborating with Elizabeth and Jessica, the more that we were able to find every moment that they might be in in their life and explore what is their past, what’s going on just outside of the story that we had. And Alfair was such an amazing support in that. She was no no ego, totally no preciousness about allowing us to really build out this world. And it was just such a joy to get to do that. And we all had a little bit of fun. We love dysfunction. That’s good. And we did. We had to expand just because, you know, different characters come up and we we took some liberty as we went forward, but we really honored what she gave us. For sure. Yeah. There was so much already, right, that was created before Elizabeth and I, you know, were even a part of this project. So there was so much to mine from the amazing scripts to the books and then there was nothing but an open channel of collaboration. You know, anything that we felt that we wanted to add or adjust or like this feels more me or this doesn’t feel quite authentic to what I’m trying to do with Chloe or you know what Elizabeth was doing with Nikki. Everything was like allowed and at least conversation. and we had a conversation and we sometimes we would argue about what we thought and it was all so um like nutrative to the experience I guess and we would figure out okay well maybe that was a good idea maybe it wasn’t but we talked it out and now we’re like moving forward and we have more information and there’s something new that’s been discovered somehow so the collaboration was just like top level topnotch anything was everything was acceptable to talk about and and even if it was like there was no bad ideas you know It’s mentionable. It’s manageable. You know, that’s that’s for me. But it applies on set. You know, it’s very useful. It really is. Yeah. I’ve been lucky enough I’m honored to have had access to AA to been I’ve been to meetings. I’ve been to Alanon. I have friends and family who work that program whose lives are really helped by it. And I felt a responsibility to sort of represent it. I truly think it’s an incredible program. But what it gave to the character was I knew from how it works that you have to own all your when you go through that program. So if she was committed, which I believed that she was, to a daily decision to stay sober and really needing these meetings, that it meant that she had put out into the world her own trauma already. She’d done the work that Khloe had not done. Right? So when I show up in Khloe’s world, I’m very at peace with I’m not saying these things for the first time. I’m pretty I’m working I’ve worked through I’ve done my forgiving. I’ve done my of myself and of my father and my mother and of her and of my ex and you know like I’ve I’ve been doing a lot of work. So I come to the scenario frankly with some moral superiority. and it allowed me to poke at her a lot and break her down and ask her to like join me in doing this work, right? Like let’s cocreate some um breakthroughs. It really grounded Nikki as a character for me in my mind like she actually she has a support system and she has said these things out loud. She made peace with her mother before her mother passed. Yeah. The family stuff was always in the forefront for us. That was always what what drove the train. And you know, a lot of the work that we do is very personal. It may not come out. I mean, we can sort of channel it into the characters, but we are extremely honest with our own damage and our own journey. And I think that that was very big part of this process. as was the the AA monologues were really we worked so specifically on trying hard and maybe sometimes we didn’t achieve it not being expository and Elizabeth just was able to cut right through that and make it so real and but there are a lot of things we love when the class stuff came up we love when the race stuff came up so it was a constant evolving thing I don’t think we ever had that do we got to do this we got to do that it was sort of like Olivia said it’s a live thing yeah and I think the family as the primordial unit. It’s the first organizing principle of your life. And I think everything else is extrapolated from that in terms of community that who you belong to at work, who you belong to in your social circle, what class you view yourself as being a part of, how you view your experience in the world based upon your race. And I think that when you start to realize that there is an illusion of separateness, we we think we go through life as individuals, but the truth is we are so deeply imshed and so united actually in our experiences as much as we try to pull apart, we actually get brought back together. And that’s the real story of the show. And I think we always knew that its heart. Two sisters diverged in the woods brought back together by murder. And the real story of the show is how do they find each other again in truth? Not in the lie, not in the illusion that they are different, but actually that they are one. And what does that mean to find that hope and love and forgiveness despite everything you’ve done to each other? And for us, I think that was always the guiding light. Wow. I I remember well also just like this deep need for connection that these two women have with for connection with each other and that they have put these walls around that and they this entire journey is about breaking through and reconnecting. Well, I mean I just started on you pretty quickly. Yeah. And I just And you took it. Yeah. And then you gave it back a little and then we just were like, “This is what it’s supposed to be.” Yeah. Sometimes all you can do is like very natural. You don’t quite know what’s going to happen until you get on set, right? You do a bunch of preparation. You learn your lines. You you think about the emotional, you know, things that’s happening for your character, what’s happened in the past, where you were in the present, all this stuff. You might have like I have journals of stuff and like my script is covered in crazy person notes like that kind of thing and then you get to set and you just go well that’s going to throw out the window. We’re doing something different. She just did something crazy. I don’t know how to respond to that. Go with it. You know, a lot of it is just in my opinion is just like being available to hear listening listening listening to what’s happening and really responding authentically from the character’s heart, you know, and if you know that if you know where you’re if you know that character’s heart, then you just react and it’s just kind of all happening. So, I know that’s like a it’s like not not really giving you an answer, but it’s just that’s kind of the energy of set. It’s kind of chaos and it’s kind of blasting out of cannons. You just don’t even know what’s happening. I think also we were, you know, the characters are a little careful around each other in the beginning because they have to be and we’re just getting up to speed on the whole thing. So, we were a little careful, not like it sort of was channeled naturally, I feel like to be like a little careful like what can what can I say? what can we get away with? How how far can I push a thing? Because I don’t I want to do be I want to do it in service of what this relationship is supposed to be. But I also with my own sisters know like there’s just there’s very few things that I know in my relationship with my sisters that they could do where I would like never want to talk to them again. I mean, sleeping with my husband probably is one of them. Pretty close. It’s pretty close, but we we were technically broken up. I mean, so like fair game, you said it. So, it was also it’s a little bit of that, too, of like, you know, I don’t know. We we had a deep mutual respect and trust very fast. And so, I felt very free to really create with Jessica a a a sense of history, like we had like, okay, but we’re also kind of getting to know each other, which is true. That’s what was happening. Yeah. The feeling of love and support and care. We had such an amazing team, many women and and many men and and others. And it was I think the an energy which is maternal, which is loving, which need not necessarily come from a woman specifically, but it is rooted in a deep sense of nurturing and caring and support and wanting to foster growth. That was what was present on the set. And that was really, I think, the thing that we derived from all of our partnership together and the thing that we really believed in most was how do we create an environment where we can do the best work and where we all feel safe and loved. And that is, you know, I think when you lead with a feminine energy, again, need not necessarily coming from specifically a woman, but that I think is what you you get access to. And I think we had a lot of that on our side, which was very special. I never thought about it as all women. I just thought these are professionals that we are so lucky to work with and then you know you everyone points it out and you’re like wow look at that but it’s all we’re all very complimentary though too I will say it’s like everyone’s secure in their role right so like you’re the like laughy like you know Regina is like let’s go like she’ll know the the plot and and like we were very secure like yep I’m Nikki there’s no doubt about it and you’re Chloe and there’s no doubt about it and everybody was there for their like it just was everyone knew how to do their job was secure and this is what and everybody complimented everybody in a really great way so there was very it was very frictionless yeah I just felt like a lot of busy moms who wanted to get done quick and get home as fast as possible yes it was that and also I think when when you were talking about like a like a female sort of energy or sensibility, whatever. There was almost like a sense of humility, I feel like, and there was zero egos and and I’m that’s whatever. Everyone has one of those. But for whatever reason, everybody sort of threw those out the window and everyone was very humble to let’s make what what does it need? What does it need to to be the best possible product? And if that means cutting out all my lines, cutting me out of the scene, cutting her, it doesn’t matter. Like, it didn’t matter. Nobody cared about that. It was just it was it was a macro view of what we were doing and much bigger look of like, oh, this was the, you know, this is the group mentality all moving in the in the same direction. And we had a lot of chai and snacks. Yes. I we were wellfed. Very well. That was Yes. So much food. Lot of food. Lot of food trucks. So much ice cream. So much ice cream.
Jessica Biel, Elizabeth Banks, Olivia Milch, and Regina Corrado stopped by the Deadline Studio at the 2025 Prime Experience to discuss The Better Sister, their gripping new limited series on Prime Video. Biel and Banks share how their on-screen sisterly bond came naturally, while Milch and Corrado dive into the show’s deep themes of family, addiction, and reconciliation.
Hear how this female-led cast and crew brought Alafair Burke’s novel to life ahead of the May 29 premiere on Prime Video.
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