Why did Guy Pearce agree to an eye-candy role in Mare of Easttown? Australian comic seems to have the answer

Actor Kate Winslet’s HBO limited series Mare of Easttown is dominating the pop culture discourse across the world. The seven-part series has garnered glowing reviews from critics and fans alike. However, it has left some of its audience disappointed as they are not happy with the way Guy Pearce’s character was presented in the series.

The fans of the show have pointed out that Guy Pearce’s character has very little to contribute to moving the narration forward. Australian comic Steen Raskopoulos hilariously gives an approximation of Guy’s role in the series, which otherwise seem to be a stunning investigative drama.

“Guy Pearce’s agent pitching him his character in Mare Of Easttown,” captioned Steen, while tweeting the funny skit. And as a bonus, he also takes a swipe at Kevin Spacey’s upcoming paedophilia drama, which is directed by Franco Nero.

The showrunners of Mare of Easttown understand the complaints about not placing an Emmy-award winning actor of Guy’s calibre at the heart of the conflict in the series. But, the showrunners also have their reasons.

Guy Pearce’s agent pitching him his character in Mare Of Easttown #MareOfEasttown #GuyPearce pic.twitter.com/J0yZAdbRIG

— Steen Raskopoulos (@steenrasko) May 31, 2021

Guy was not the original choice to play Richard Ryan, a novel writer and Kate Winslet’s love interest. It was British actor Ben Miles who was first tapped to play the role. In a major reshuffle, he was dropped from the cast along with series director Gavin O’Connor. And then Craig Zobel was entrusted with the responsibility of directing the series.

The showrunners have revealed that Guy accepted to be part of the series as a favour to his old friend Kate. “I’ve read a bunch of theories online about Guy but he was always 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,” explained show’s creator Brad Ingelsby while discussing Mare of Easttown on Vanity Fair podcast.

Mare of Easttown is streaming on Disney plus Hotstar in India.