Caution: Spoilers for The Society ahead.
As I sank into my couch and watched The Society, now streaming on Netflix, I couldn’t help but feel there was something familiar about the drama. Sure, it has all the hallmarks of a great teen show: love triangles, fundamental lack of supervision, betrayal. But something else lurched in my stomach as I watched—something heartbreaking and recognizable. Something wicked.
Many have compared The Society to a modern Lord of the Flies for a reason. The show follows a group of teenagers whose parents mysteriously vanish in the night, leaving them to their own devices in a small town that’s also been inexplicably cut off from the rest of the world. The town's exits are sealed, landlocked by miles of woods that stretch to—for all they know—the ends of the earth (if this even is their earth). Their familiar sleepy hometown quickly devolves into a mad scramble for food, supplies, alliances, and power as a brand-new society buds. The teens must learn how to work together to survive, which sounds cheesy until you consider that means building a political system from the ground up.
Kathryn Newton stars as Allie, this new society’s leader who rises to power not by choice, but because “her people” choose her. But Allie and her older sister, Cassandra (Rachel Keller), swiftly face vehement backlash from their peers—mostly their male peers, like rich jock Harry (Alex Fitzalan) and the pugnacious villain Campbell (Toby Wallace), who feel emasculated and challenged by female leadership. And when that transpires, the show takes a devastating turn into the bowels of human nature. In other words, shit gets real.
Watching Allie and her sister fight for the good of the people—and their own lives—when challenged by brute male power made my stomach churn. Early on, it becomes clear this show is deeply political and current; Allie’s rise and fall as a leader is an eviscerating commentary on the ways in which female political figures have risen to power and how, just as quickly, they’ve been destroyed.
So I spoke to Newton about Allie, my new favorite TV character, a young woman I would vote for in a heartbeat if she ran on the Democratic ticket in 2020. Just saying.
Glamour: What drew you to this role? When you read the script, what was it that struck you the most?
Kathryn Newton: It's really rare to find characters that aren't stereotypes for teenagers, and I feel like [executive producer, writer, and creator] Chris Keyser had it all on the page. I thought that this character was going to be difficult for me to play. She's very dark, and what she goes through is so difficult for me to even understand that I had to do a lot of research. I researched queens and went back to medieval times. I reread Animal Farm to get into it, just to think more about politics and commonsense thinking. I thought it would be fun to do something different. I had just done some comedy and Blockers, and I wanted to try and create this character and see if I can do it.
I do feel like The Society is timely and important right now. Did you feel that when you were shooting it?
KN: As an actor, I always just try to follow the story and the character. It's timely because we're all so connected to our phones and dependent on things. This show kind of strips away everything you know and everything you need, and it makes you look at who you are—everything you thought matters, no longer matters. No one cares how much money you have. No one cares what your car looks like. Now it's just about who you are on the inside. And some of these people are really ugly, and some are really beautiful. I feel like people are both beautiful and ugly sometimes, and my character's kind of complicated in that way. She's a reluctant leader. She doesn't come into the story of wanting to be king, you know? She's not destined for greatness. She thinks that her life's been made up, and that's just not the way it goes for her. She has to rise to the occasion, and people do in life. This show asks the question: Who are you when nobody's watching?
Maybe I'm just so scarred from 2016 that it felt like the show was reopening some kind of wound for me, but it does feel there was some very current political commentary in the characters and storylines. Was that intentional or just coincidence?
KN: I feel like it might be a coincidence, but the show is very smart as well in the political aspect of the show. That’s what I like: It’s a very smart show, but it also has the love triangles and the relationships between the characters that make it for everyone. It's not just a show about power or about politics at all. It's also about these kids who are scared, who are trying to survive. I love the love triangle, the couples. And I stan a queen.
What was your favorite part of playing Allie?
KN: Honestly, I loved her words. I thought she was so eloquent. Chris Keyser wrote it, but I just thought...she puts everyone else before her. She selflessly puts the town first before her wants and her needs. I think at our age, it's really hard to be that way because we're always focused on growing and discovering who we are and who we're going to be in this life. Allie thought she already had that figured out; now everything's changed, and she puts everyone else before her even more. I found her [to be] quite a hero, and I really wanted to play a hero. I don't think a lot of girls get a chance to play a role like this. She's a boss, like The Godfather sometimes. That was really fun for me to be in a position of power like that. I'm nothing like Allie. I would no way be the leader of the new society.
You said earlier that you researched queens to play this role. Do you think that Allie shares qualities with real-life female politicians and leaders throughout history?
KN: You know, what’s funny is I watched Mary Queen of Scots while we were filming, and I was like, “Allie relates to this so much.” Because she was a queen and everyone was always trying to take her down—people that she trusted like her brothers, her family. Allie goes through the same thing. She has these queen-size problems, where her cousins and the people closest to her turn on her. She's completely isolated and alone, and she’s still got to hold her head high. With great power comes great responsibility, and she's really trying to protect that power and do what's right. We really didn't talk about politics, honestly. We talked more about queens when we talked about her character and her inspiration. I mean, even some of the things that happened in the political arena on the show draws more from medieval times than modern day.
It feels like she gets Hillary Clinton–ed.
KN: She’s got to get a power suit.
That’s the one thing Allie was missing. A power suit.
KN: It is, but that was something I thought about even when we were filming. Her clothes were really important to me because I was like, This girl is not into fashion. She is all business. She’s not going to be wearing a dress. She’s going to be wearing track pants. She’s dealing with men all the time. That was a big part of it, my hair and makeup and everything.
Do you feel like you learned anything in playing this character about what makes a good leader?
KN: I have to say, I just felt more powerful after I finished the project. I don't know if it was the amount of work that we put into it—I can't believe that we accomplished it—but I definitely changed. Also, I have a bunch of new friends, which is always really nice. I have more friends now.
What do you think was the most challenging scene for you? When I was watching it, I was completely struck by that execution scene.
KN: That scene was a big question mark for all of us. That scene is so shocking and brutal. It's really hard to watch that scene. I don't like violence. After that scene on set, I had to go home and watch The Office and take a bath and just try and forget about it. That’s how it was on that set—it was really dark. I had to go home and forget about it every day. But I'll tell you the most challenging [scenes] were probably my speeches, because I really had to make those speeches in front of so many people. Our extras were a big part of the cast, and they really help tell the story too. That was hard because I really felt like they were listening, and I had to be the leader they wanted.
Allie has such a wild, neck-breaking character arc. What do you think changes for Allie that makes her step up and seize power?
KN: Her people. She believed in the people, and she wants what's best for them. When she learns that she has the opportunity to use her power for good. When she learns her power is when she changes. I think there's a part of her that likes the power, which was kind of fun to play with. But overall, I think Allie has a really good heart and knows that if she's not in power, someone else can be, and they could use the power for bad things. She knows how important it is that she's the one in charge, which is why, you know, what happens at the end is actually just so bad.
What do you think makes this show stand out in the slate of other teen-skewing or young adult dramas right now?
KN: It shows real people. Teenagers are so complicated, and they have to look back into themselves and decide who they are on the spot. If you want to see real people and real relationships go through something really crazy, this show is for you.
The Society is now streaming on Netflix.
Jill Gutowitz is a writer and comedian living in Los Angeles.
