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Interview: Emmy Rossum Talks ‘Furious’ and What Sets Hulu’s New, Female-Led Police Procedural Series Apart from Other Crime Thrillers

July 25, 2026Ben MK




Perhaps best known for playing Fiona Gallagher over nine seasons of the Showtime series Shameless, Emmy Rossum has seemingly done it all. Whether it's her portrayal of Christine in a movie musical adaptation of The Phantom of the Opera, starring opposite Jake Gyllenhaal in the apocalyptic action blockbuster The Day After Tomorrow, or conjuring up the persona of a dark witch in the romance fantasy Beautiful Creatures, Rossum's Hollywood career has seen her cross numerous genres lines. From satirical comedies to syndicated television dramas, it would seem that there isn't a storytelling niche she hasn't touched. But with Hulu's new crime drama, Furious, from showrunner Elizabeth Meriwether, the 39-year-old actress is adding police procedural to her already varied and impressive resume, as she plays a rookie FBI agent hot on the trail of a ruthless and calculating female serial killer whose motives happen to hit a little too close to home.

I caught up with Emmy Rossum to chat about Furious and how she prepared for her intense role, as well as to find out what sets the show apart from the plethora of scripted crime dramas out there.

On the surface, Furious might seem like just another crime procedural drama, but what really sets it apart is how it explores the grey area between good and evil — and especially the line between victim and abuser. Can you talk about what it was like getting into the head of your character, FBI agent Alice Black, and what resonated with you the most about this role?

Rossum: I love characters that exist in moral grey area. I like characters that are underestimated. I feel like I've been an underdog a lot in my life. I've been second choice for a lot of jobs that I ended up getting when the person couldn't get it. So, I feel like I thrive as an underdog. It definitely contributes to my own obsessive tendencies when it comes to my work and my passion. So, I certainly related to that.

But there's a lot that's different about the character; and I did get to shadow current and former FBI agents and detectives, to really understand what that job is like, what it does to you, what the camaraderie is like, what are the frustrations of the job — and to understand the effects of the job and how you have to sublimate your own vulnerabilities and your own sensitivities. And how they walk through the world with a certain hypervigilance as well — that's very different from how I walk through the world.

I understand Furious is loosely based on the 1987 movie, Black Widow, and focuses on the intense game of cat-and-mouse between your character and a female serial killer played by Lola Petticrew. How important was it, for you personally, that both of the series' leads are women, and how did you and Lola work together to cultivate that chemistry that we see on screen?

Rossum: I think what's so interesting is there's this invisible thread between these two women. One is kind of set up to be your hero — your detective — and the other one is set up to be your villain — your killer. And, as I was reading the scripts, as Liz [Meriwether] was writing them, I found my allegiance kind of teeter-tottering between the two women. And seeing how similar they are, how they're both shapeshifters, how they both conceal big parts of themselves in order to make it through the world, how they're both so underestimated.

Lola and I had very separate trajectories preparing for the role, but we were reading a lot of the same materials, a lot of the same interviews with real trafficking victims. We were both working with psychologists to understand the stories of our characters. And, so, obviously, I don't believe that Lola was shadowing any serial killers that we know of — they may have been — but I got the chance to work with a lot of agents in physical training, weapons training, and also, really, just understanding what that job is.

Was there a scene or an episode that was especially memorable for you to shoot?

Rossum: There's a very darkly comedic scene in the first episode, where my character, who you know has been a victim of violence, invites a guy from Tinder to fight in her house. And you see that her relationship with her own sexuality is very complicated. Because of her history, and also because of the intensity of the job, I think she needs that physical intensity in order to feel anything. It's a really interesting, very important part of the character where we really understand that she's not a perfect victim — that she feels shame, not about the kink, but about having not pursued justice on her behalf.

Last but not least, aside from being entertained by this simply from the perspective of a crime thriller, what do you hope viewers will ultimately take away from Furious?

Rossum: Oh wow. I don't know. I want people to have a good time, and to have the experience that I had when I was reading it — of being surprised that I was at times rooting for the killer, because I was so frustrated that the usual justice process wasn't working for her.
Furious streams July 27th, exclusively on Disney Plus.




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