Rosie’s sheltered life turns upside down when she meets Sam (Fra Fee), an intriguing stranger who saves her daughter, Grace (Olivia Pickering), from drowning. As Rosie endures abuse and neglect at the hands of her husband, Adam (Asa Butterfield), she falls deeper into an affair with Sam, who’s hiding a dark past from her.
 

“There’s an intensity between them from the start, and I think he leads her on a journey of opening her eyes,” Windsor tells Tudum. “Once her eyes have been opened, she can’t go back to how she thought before.”

Despite navigating the extreme circumstances of a cult, Windsor notes that Rosie’s journey is a universal one. “I think that feeling of doing what you’re taught and having a strong sense of morals — that’s quite relatable,” the BAFTA-winning actor says. “It gave me an insight into Rosie and a starting point.”

Three Girls, The Unloved

A rising star in his religious community, Adam is a devout cult follower who puts the fellowship before his family. He uses violence to punish Rosie and gangs up on his brother, Isaac (Aston McAuley), in a mob-like attack. Privately, Adam is struggling with his sexuality, which becomes even more complicated when he finds himself attracted to Sam. 

“Adam is really trying to be the best member of this cult he can be to to make up for some of these feelings inside him, which make his life quite difficult and much harder for him to process,” Butterfield says. “He buries those feelings under this structure, under this reflection of what he thinks is the ultimate devotee.”

Sam, the actor adds, intrigues Adam with his “otherness.” “When you’ve lived in a cult for your entire life, the idea of something else, something new, something different is quite intoxicating,” says Butterfield. “Sam reflects that in so many ways. On top of that, he’s incredibly good at manipulating Adam.”

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children

Sam is an escaped convict who was arrested as a teen for a deadly crime. He quickly integrates himself into the fellowship and uses his powers of coercion to become a pillar of the community. While balancing an affair with Rosie and flirtation with Adam, Sam lives in fear of being sent back to prison. 

“He is fiercely intelligent, highly manipulative, and able to get what he wants by abusing other characters’ insecurities or their weaknesses,” Fee tells Tudum. “A lot of the time, I don’t think it’s necessarily premeditated. He’s just very reactionary and a real survivor.”

Figuring out how to play Sam was a lesson in embracing the grey areas. Because the character’s intentions were often murky and complex, Gearey encouraged Fee to never “fully dot the i’s or cross the t’s” in scenes. “There always had to be room for an alternative intention,” Fee explains. 

Lost Boys and Fairies

The wife of Mr. Phillips (Christopher Eccleston), the leader of the cult, Mrs. Phillips reluctantly turns a blind eye to the abuse her husband inflicts on others. She mourns the loss of her son, who left the fellowship, and finds herself questioning if she has a future beyond the cloistered compound. 

Getting into character started with the costume, Finneran says. “It’s this very basic, shapeless, colourless outfit. When the head scarf went on, it made a real difference, as did the massively unflattering shoes. It’s a uniform — there’s no room to be unique or to be expressive. It’s all about control — the community is controlling us by having us all look the same.”

Happy Valley

As leader of the cult, Mr. Phillips frequently abuses his position of power. He acts inappropriately with his female members and largely gets away with it — until a surprise turn of events threatens the throne he’s built for himself.  

Eccleston views his character as a “destroyed individual” who “creates huge damage around him, all in the name of religion.” At the same time, the actor feels sympathy for Mr. Phillips. 

“I believe he was brought up within that organization, so he’s been indoctrinated since he was a child and he’s never known anything else,” Eccleston says. “It destroyed and corrupted him. I felt tremendous empathy and tremendous disgust for him at the same time.” 

The Leftovers, Thor: The Dark World

The young daughter of Adam and Rosie, Grace, who’s deaf, has a close relationship with her parents. The sensitive and curious child first meets Sam when he saves her life, but she — alongside her mother — starts to see the darkness in this mysterious stranger. 

Firefly 

As Adam rises in the cult’s ranks, his brother, Isaac, is shunned and abused simply for having a cell phone. The black sheep of his family, Isaac finds himself straying from his wife, Hannah (Alexa Davies), and developing a romance outside of the fellowship’s walls. 

“I really enjoyed writing Adam and Isaac,” Gearey says. “I think that was a very interesting relationship to follow because they are on very, very different paths. There’s this real Cain and Abel thing at the heart of them.”

Rocketman, Rebus

Hannah is at her breaking point. Strapped for cash and heartbroken over Isaac’s affair, the mother finds herself in a desperate situation. She punishes her husband by cutting off his contact with their children, which causes even more emotional fallout.

“Isaac didn’t want to be an adulterer, he didn’t want to put his family through anything. But he fell out of love, and there was no other way for him,” Gearey says. “He is trying to follow his heart with fairly disastrous consequences.” 

Mamma Mia 2, Funny Woman

Mason has been a loyal younger brother to Sam. He subjects himself to violence at the hands of people angry at his sibling and relocates to the fellowship compound, where Sam enlists him as his eyes and ears. 

As secrets begin to unravel about his brother, Mason begins to wonder if Sam is really who he says he is — especially when a shocking act of violence shakes the community. 

Solstice