‘The Great,’ ‘Tulsa King’ and ‘Unstable’ Casts on the Pros and Cons of Working With Family on Set

When series creator Tony McNamara was crafting the character of Aunt Elizabeth in Hulus Emmy-winning biographical comedy The Great, he penned it with his actor wife and fellow Aussie, Belinda Bromilow, front of mind.

I knew the character and I knew what I needed from an actor to do it, says McNamara, a seasoned playwright and Oscar-nominated screenwriter for Yorgos Lanthimos piquant 2018 dramaThe Favourite.

I knew [Elizabeth] needed to have a strong dramatic voice but also be a bit idiosyncratic and have really good comic bones, McNamara continues. The actor needed to be able to do comedy and be able to shift gears into a darker place. And Id worked with Belinda before and knew that she could do that.

McNamara and Bromilow, married and parents to two children in real life, are two in a sea of artists preserving close family ties in Emmy contender series. Other examples: Shrinking co-creator Bill Lawrence and Christa Miller, who plays Liz on the hit Apple TV+ sitcom; Rob Lowe and son John Owen Lowe, who co-created and star in Netflix comedy Unstable and Sylvestor Stallone and daughter Scarlet Rose Stallone in Paramount+ Tulsa King, created by Taylor Sheridan.

But nepotism doesnt guarantee anything in Hollywood, including a recurring role in a series. When it came to landing The Great, Bromilow auditioned for casting directors just like anybody else.

I wanted her to get it on our own terms and, in the end, thats who they liked, says McNamara. And, I said, well, guess what? I like her too. So much so that we have two children together.

We have different surnames and, as far as I knew, no one knew that we were married, says Brominlow. And so I just auditioned for Elizabeth as I would any other role. I understand Tonys tone and I felt like I had a good chance at it because its a tone that I really get. But it wasnt a sure thing at all. The whole audition process was equally nerve wracking as it always is.

John Owen Lowe was a staff writer on 911 Lone Star, in which his father Rob was starring, when he came up with the idea for Unstable.

Since I was writing, I didnt have to spend too much time with my dad, says John Owen Lowe. But when I was covering an episode that I had written on set, I would be around him and I was starting to go a little stir crazy working so closely with him. So, I would reach out weekly to my agent and manager and wed have these little Zoom calls where I would just vent about the situation. And they became my de facto therapists and they would kind of laugh at my pain. And at a certain point they were like, this is actually very funny. Is there a show here? And I went off and wrote up a treatment.

And thats how Unstable, which revolves around, per John Owen Lowe, a benevolent narcissistic father who society generally loves and with a son who doesnt see what everyone else sees in him came to be.

My dad was a great sport, quips John Owen Lowe.

Working and living together has its challenges, agree MacNamara and Bromilow. Sometimes, it can even be sad.

Its lovely to have someone there that you know and love, but its actually a bit sad because were interacting in a professional way, says Bromilow. Thats quite a weird experience to spend a lot of time around your partner, but not interacting with them as they are off set. I had someone come up to me this season and say he had no idea that I was married to Tony.

Hes a much loved showrunner, she adds of McNamara. And thank God. Because otherwise, that would be really awkward if the general vibe was that people hated him.