mare of easttown guy pearce

People Are Straight-Up Confused By Guy Pearce In ‘Mare Of Easttown’ & The Memes Are Everything

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The character who was the killer was finally unmasked in the nail-biting finale of Mare of Easttown, but the series’ greatest mystery still remains unsolved: what was Guy Pearce doing in this show?

Pearce’s appearance in the crime drama has truly puzzled people. The series follows Mare, played by Kate Winslet, a Philly detective who is tasked with investigating a series of disappearances and a recent murder. In her downtime, she meets Pearce’s character, Richard, a writer who she begins a romantic relationship with. He doesn’t get involved in the case and after dating for awhile, in the finale Richard moves away to start a new job at a university.

Fans suspected that Richard may have been the murderer, as he appeared in town just before Erin’s body was discovered. But nope, he was…just a writer. He came, he dated Mare, then he left.

Aside from Winslet, Pearce was arguably the most famous person in the cast. This makes it pretty damn perplexing that his character contributed so little to the narrative.

The accuracy of this…

In truth, Guy accepted the part in the series as a favour to Kate, who was an old friend. Kate mentioned she had previously worked with Guy then, “She said, ‘Listen, it’s an easy call I can make. We’ll see if Guy would be interested’,” creator Brad Ingelsby told a Vanity Fair podcast. Ingelsby added that the role of Richard was never going to be more than a character to support Mare’s growth and wellbeing.

“I’ve read a bunch of theories online about Guy but he was always written as a character that would just come in and be sort of a light in Mare’s life. He came into her life at this very challenging time and he helped her get through it and he was always only that,” Ingelsby said.

It’s worth noting that no one bats an eye when women are cast in similar roles to Pearce’s Richard. For decades, women have been playing the supportive partner to the movie or TV series’ protagonist — which is more often than not, a male.

That being said, another factor contributing to everyone’s confusion is that Guy Pearce is extremely famous. The role of Richard was originally going to be played by British actor, Ben Miles, but he was replaced by Pearce last-minute in 2019. I doubt there would have been this reaction to Miles, as the brunt of viewers bewilderment came from people expecting specific (and larger) roles from Pearce, who is known for playing deceptive or villainous characters.

I’m personally here for super well-known, attractive actors being cast in supportive roles with zero stakes.

These memes about Guy Pearce in Mare of Easttown are too perfect: