'The Unforgivable': Aisling Franciosi Hopes Fans Will Keep Spoilers off Social Media (Exclusive)

The Unforgivable drops on Netflix on Friday, and it has some twists and turns new viewers might not see coming. In an exclusive interview with PopCulture.com, star Aisling Franciosi said that she has hopes these secrets will stay in place as the movie makes it rounds. She also discussed her experience working with an A-list cast and playing such a unique role.

Franciosi plays Katie in The Unforgivable, the estranged younger sister of main character Ruth Slater, played by Sandra Bullock. Ruth is a recently released ex-convict who served 20 years for murder and is now looking for a way to reconnect with her younger sister, who does not remember her at all. Even that simple description of the plot might be considered a spoiler, but Franciosi said that she believes this carefully woven knot of mysteries can survive the social media age.

"Well, I mean, you're right. It's trickier and trickier these days," she said when I asked her about this issue. "I don't know, something that gives me hope is that, you know, James Bond is pretty big, and I feel like it's probably one of the best-kept movie secrets of – I don't know how long. Maybe if it could survive..." She laughed before continuing: "but it's so hard. I would just advise people to watch it before anything else."

While the script is designed to reveal key background information to the audience slowly over time, the characters have more information from the start. Franciosi said that she had all of this background in her head while filming as well, and admitted that it presented a unique challenge while she was in character.

The Unforgivable offers a bleak view of the American prison system, poverty, and the foster care system. Bullock recently told Entertainment Tonight about how the project changed her perspective on women in prison, and Franciosi took it even further. She believes the theme that this movie will be remembered for it its examination of separation and isolation, and how families cope with that.

"It's funny – well, not funny 'ha ha,' but funny, odd – this film, the shoot was interrupted by the pandemic," she explained. "We all then had to be away from our friends and family and people that we loved. I think that those connections, obviously, we felt that they were... We suffered for that. I think a lot of us had time to reflect on just how important close relationships are, and I think that this movie definitely touches on that in a way that we couldn't have known it would until now."

"You know, we've been separated from people for two years, but there are people who are separated from their loved ones for a lot longer," she went on. "And I do think that yearning for a connection with someone that we love is something that people will definitely be feeling right now... So I think that that kind of might pull on people's heartstrings in a way that we weren't quite expecting."

The Unforgivable is on Netflix now. Stay tuned for more from our interview with Aisling Franciosi!