Jenna Coleman is taking the lead inThe Jetty. The BBC-produced series follows Ember Manning (Coleman), a detective tasked withinvestigating a holiday home firethat quickly finds itself tangled in an old missing person’s case. Rounding outThe Jetty’s ensemble are notable names such as Tom Glynn-Carney (Dunkirk),Archie Renaux (Shadow & Bone), Ruby Stokes (Bridgerton), andRalph Ineson (The Fantastic Four: First Steps).
The Jettyrepresents the latest installment in Coleman’s extensive television catalog. She got her start on screen on the storied British soap operaEmmerdale, which saw her portray Jasmine Thomas for 180 episodes in the late 2000s. Over the 2010s, Colemanfound success on programs such asDoctor Who,Victoria, andThe Sandman.
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In celebration ofThe Jetty’s arrival on Hulu and BritBox,ScreenRantspoke with Coleman to discuss the show’s tonal influences, what attracted her to the role of Ember Manning, her reaction to the series shooting two different endings,what’s next for her onThe Sandman, and whether a Marvel Cinematic Universe return could be in her future.
The Jetty Takes Inspiration From Two Popular Thriller Shows
Coleman CitedMare of Easttown&Sharp ObjectsAs Tonal Influences
ScreenRant: For people who are going intoThe Jettyblind, what are some good companion detective stories that you think inspired the tone for what you guys were going for?
Jenna Coleman: I feel like the tone, I mean, I hate to say Mare of Easttown because obviously there’s some very clear nods there, just mainly because it’s a lot to do with generational female relationships, but also the case where a detective is chasing her own by stepping forward. And actually Sharp Objects, that’s kind of a reference that we spoke about a lot.
This is what I found most interesting about the script is by Ember stepping forward headfirst into a case she is unknowingly unraveling her own past. So you’ve got this amazing kind of push-pull tension of it being a personal case rather than a detective taking on a case that is she’s not looking elsewhere but instead she’s looking into her own past. And in a way, again, thematically, it brings up so much about mirrors and memory and unresolved trauma, how the mind can suppress various things in people’s lives for them to surface later. It felt very murky. It was a lot about blurred boundaries and sexual politics. Rather than it being a pure kind of detective case, it felt like it sits a lot more in a character-driven piece.
Ember Manning Is Not Your Typical Detective
“This show is kind of her awakening, so to speak…”
I would love to go down the rabbit hole of Ember Manning. Without getting into spoilers just yet, who is Ember Manning when we first meet her? What are your audiences going to expect?
Ember Manning is a mother and a rookie detective. She’s come to it later in life. She has a very dysfunctional relationship with her mother, who’s very Bohemian and relaxed and loud. And in a way I think Ember’s kind of grown up being the more responsible, almost being the parent to her mother. So that sets us off in a really interesting dynamic. And then she had her daughter very young, so her relationship with her daughter is almost sly and they could be friends. So you have these really interesting dynamic between the three women. She’s kind of been stunted in her growth. So rather than in her twenties following the career that she wanted, it’s like she’s arriving at this point now later on in life in her thirties. This show is kind of her awakening, so to speak.
Did you know everything about Ember going in or did you find out, I know it’s a four-episode series, did you find out some of her backstory as filming was going on?
Jenna Coleman: Yeah, and actually, I mean, I came to this project really early, so I was sent an initial script at the beginning and then the plot changed. They can, and as they do, so it was being honed all along and shifted in quite dramatic ways, actually. But I would say in terms of Ember, knowing who she was as a person, as a character, it’s one of the things that really drew me to this project because my fear sometimes of playing a detective is that they never feel like a fully fleshed human. To me, Ember felt like that immediately off the page. She’s quite sad, her humor is very dry, and she’s quite prickly. She’s a bit of a dog with a bone as well. So she’s quite stubborn. Pride is maybe her biggest flaw. So it feels, in many ways, that her flaws are also the thing that makes her a really good cop. At the same time, it’s like both of them fight with one another, but she’s not necessarily, that kind of sticks to a rule book.
I read that you guys shot two endings of what eventually transpires in the finale. How late in production did you decide which one was going to get used?
Jenna Coleman: It was in the edit, and I love, to be honest, I love doing that as well. I think especially with a piece, especially again, a thriller and a detective piece, it’s like fine-tuning it in an edit. I think always having those options and the options that actually in our takes were very subtle, but it changed. It’s really hard to say without saying the plot, but it changes the kind of outcome quite significantly.
Johanna Constantine Returns InThe SandmanSeason 2
“The scale, it’s so cinematic…”
You were great inThe SandmanSeason 1 as Johanna Constantine. Season 2 is coming out this year. Will we see you back?
Coleman Reflects On Captain America: The First Avenger
Coleman Played Connie, Bucky’s Date At The Stark Expo
I don’t know if you’re aware that you’re in this club, but there’s a very small club of actors who have played roles for DC and for Marvel. Technically speaking, Sandman falls under DC, and you were also inCaptain America: The First Avenger back in 2011. You played a character named Connie, I believe, who was Bucky Barnes’s date at the Stark Expo. I know that place in the ’40s, but considering how much Marvel jumps around with time, did they ever express any idea of bringing you back and fleshing out that character and possibly pursuing a future with Bucky?
Jenna Coleman: No they didn’t, but I liked that the character went on a date with them before they got cool. I remember we had to shoot with Chris Evans when it, like he was pre-Captain America at that point, so we had to do the guy with the green spots on his face and swap him over. But no, we haven’t spoken about revisit. We haven’t spoken about revisiting that date. Clearly it didn’t go very well.
Well, it’s not fair because Captain America went back to the ’40s and he got to live out his life, so who knows, maybe.
Jenna Coleman: Yeah. Where was Bucky?
Jetty(2024)
Produced by BBC Studios’ owned indie label Firebird Pictures, The Jetty follows detective Ember Manning, and her investigation into an arson in a quiet, scenic lake town. As she gets closer to the truth, Ember uncovers dark secrets that threaten everything she thought she knew about consent – and her own life. As much a coming-of-age story as a detective thriller, The Jetty asks big questions about sexual morality, identity and memory, in the places that Me Too has left behind.
The Jettyis now streaming on Hulu and BritBox.
