‘The Girl Before’ Stars Ben Hardy, Jessica Plummer Talk ‘Very Strange’ Setting of HBO Max Series (Exclusive)

HBO Max’s latest original offering, The Girl Before, might serve up some steamy thrills against an elegant backdrop of cutting-edge design and architecture, but according to the show’s stars, the modern “smart home” nestled cozily in a London suburb is more than meets the eye even off-screen. In an exclusive interview with PopCulture.com about the murder-mystery series, The Girl Before stars Jessica Plummer and Ben Hardy admit the home — also known as the “housekeeper” — was a lot like another character with its own complex personality.

“It really was like another character in the show, arguably the main character in lots of ways,” Hardy told PopCulture. “And it did really inform — I think it helped all of us. I think it really helped being in that space, and it added a real energy.”

Hardy’s co-star Plummer and EastEnders alum adds that the home was “freezing cold” and wasn’t a real house. In fact, it was a set made in a warehouse that had no heating, lights or any of the homely features one is usually accustomed to. “I remember the first time I walked on set, and my reaction was similar to the reaction you see of Emma [my character] when she first enters the house. I mean, it really is breathtaking,” she said, adding how she also became “quite attached” to it. “I remember going back to set after it was all knocked down and being really … I cried. I cried because I felt like I’d lost my friend. So yeah, definitely another character with us.”

The Bohemian Rhapsody star adds the foreboding home, which is also a virtual assistant that is also highly watchful of behavior and quizzes tenants with daily questionnaires was “expansive” and felt at times “agoraphobic” in some ways. “It was very strange,” he said. “And sometimes we’d spend a lot of time in that house, and if you spend enough time in that place, you kind of forgot that it was a set. And all of a sudden, you just felt like you’re kind of immersed in that world.”

While Plummer’s character is aching with a past trauma that plays into her overall psyche and relationship with the house throughout the four-episode series now streaming on HBO Max, Hardy’s character is very responsive in ways that will no doubt stun the audience. Though he states his character Simon likes the “technical aspects” of the house, he’s more concerned about his partner’s well-being. “I think he’s a bit of a control freak and doesn’t really respond well to that. He’s only really living there because Emma wants to live there. He’s that kind of devoted boyfriend, borderline obsessive boyfriend who’ll disregard all of his own needs in pursuit of keeping their partner happy.”

The Girl Before, now streaming on HBO Max, follows the parallel lives of two women — played by Gugu Mbatha-Raw and Plummer — who live in a cold, ultra-minimalist “smart house” designed by eccentric architect Edward (David Oyelowo). After Mbatha-Raw’s Jane falls for the home designer, she soon discovers another woman has died in the home under mysterious circumstances.