The Girl from Plainville

The Girl from Plainville is an American biographical crime drama television miniseries created by Liz Hannah and Patrick Macmanus. The series stars Elle Fanning, Chloë Sevigny, and Colton Ryan. It premiered on Hulu on March 29, 2022. A portion of the series showed at SXSW on March 12, 2022. The series is a dramatization of the events leading to the death of Conrad Roy and his girlfriend Michelle Carter's conviction for involuntary manslaughter. The series received mostly positive reviews, with praise towards the performances of Fanning, Ryan, and Sevigny.

Premise
The Girl from Plainville explores the events in Massachusetts leading to the death of Conrad Roy by suicide in 2014 and his girlfriend Michelle Carter's conviction in 2017 for the involuntary manslaughter of him.

The narrative follows a non-linear structure with two parallel storylines, one concerning Conrad and Michelle's relationship from their initial meeting in Florida in 2012 up until his death, and one concerning the events following his death. Conrad and Michelle's text messages to each other are frequently re-enacted as if they were having a live conversation. There are also a number of fantasy sequences, told from Michelle's point of view.

Main

 * Elle Fanning as Michelle Carter
 * Chloë Sevigny as Lynn Roy
 * Cara Buono as Gail Carter
 * Kai Lennox as David Carter
 * Colton Ryan as Conrad "Coco" Roy III
 * Norbert Leo Butz as Conrad "Co" Roy II

Recurring

 * Kelly AuCoin as Scott Gordon
 * Scott William Winters as Eric Dawicki
 * Kristin Griffith as Janice Roy
 * Ella Rubin as Natalie Gibson
 * Jeff Wahlberg as Rob Mahoney
 * Kylie Liya Page as Cassie Wilkins
 * Peter Gerety as Conrad Roy Sr.
 * Chinasa Ogbuagu as Teresa Adams
 * Aya Cash as Katie Rayburn
 * Michael Mosley as Joseph Cataldo
 * J. C. MacKenzie as Judge Moniz

In addition, Ella Kennedy Davis co-stars as Sydney Roy, one of Coco's younger sisters.

Guest

 * Pearl Amanda Dickson as Susie Pierce
 * Guy Boyd as Dr. Peter Breggin

Development
On August 15, 2019, it was announced that Universal Content Productions was developing a television series inspired by the case, with documentarian Erin Lee Carr and journalist Jesse Barron serving as consulting producers. On August 7, 2020, it was reported that series was given a straight-to-series order and the series would be titled The Girl From Plainville which would be on Hulu. The series is created by Liz Hannah and Patrick Macmanus who are also expected to executive produce alongside Elle Fanning and Brittany Kahan Ward. Universal Content Productions, Echo Lake Entertainment, and Littleton Road Productions are the production companies involved with producing the series. On April 14, 2021, it was announced that Lisa Cholodenko is set to direct the first two episodes of the series. On September 2, 2021, it was reported that Hannah, Zetna Fuentes, and Pippa Bianco were added as directors for the limited series. The series was released on March 29, 2022.

The series was released on StarzPlay in the United Kingdom, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Japan, and Latin America, including Brazil and Mexico.

Filming for the series began on August 17, 2021, and concluded on December 10, 2021, in Savannah, Georgia.

Casting
Upon the series order announcement, it was reported that Elle Fanning was cast to star. On May 6, 2021, it was announced that Colton Ryan joined that cast on a starring role. In August 2021, it was reported that Chloë Sevigny, Norbert Leo Butz, Cara Buono, and Kai Lennox were cast as series regulars. On October 1, 2021, it was announced that Peter Gerety, Michael Mosley, Ella Kennedy Davis, Pearl Amanda Dickson, Kylie Liya Page, and Jeff Wahlberg joined the cast in recurring roles.

Critical response
The Girl from Plainville received mostly positive reviews from critics. The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 93% approval rating based on 29 critic reviews, with an average rating of 7.2/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "Grounded by a disturbingly powerful performance by Elle Fanning, The Girl from Plainville dramatizes a sordid true story with tasteful restraint." On Metacritic, the limited series has a score of 76 out of 100, based on 18 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

Saloni Gajjar The A.V. Club gave the limited series a B− and said, "it succeeds in bringing a humane element to a puzzling crime without sensationalizing it. And for the most part, this is because of rousing performances by Fanning, Ryan, and Chloë Sevigny..."

Lucy Mangan of The Guardian gave the series three out of five stars, praising Fanning's and Sevigny's performances but criticizing the script: "...it doesn't feel as though there is enough depth, insight or value added here to justify the endeavour."