The Girl From Plainville is set to be one of those series which gives you goosebumps on the back of your neck.
Not only is the story of Michelle Carter’s ‘texting suicide’ case deeply disturbing, but actor Elle Fanning’s physical transformation to become the 24-year-old is on the same level as those of Hollywood heavyweights like Christian Bale as Dick Cheney in Vice (2018) and Joaquin Phoenix as the Joker (2029). The resemblance between the actor (post hair and make-up) and Carter is uncanny, from the brushed back blonde hair and dark eyebrows, to the mannerisms.
The Girl from Plainville is scheduled to premiere on Hulu this spring, and sees Fanning play Carter — the teenager who encouraged her boyfriend, Conrad Roy III, to end his life via a text message. The series is adapted from the 2017 Esquire article of the same title.
In 2017, Carter was convicted of involuntary manslaughter, following a lengthy trial which caught the attention of the world, given its unprecedented subject matter, questions surrounding mental health, free speech and definitions of crime.
Here’s everything we know about The Girl from Plainville:
Who is Michelle Carter?
Carter is from Plainville, Massachusetts and was 17 years old when her boyfriend, Roy III, was found dead in 2014.
The couple had met in Naples, Florida two years earlier, but had only met in person five times. During the course of their relationship the pair had largely kept in contact through phone, email and text messages. The text messages, recovered by the state of Massachusetts during the police investigation, would later fill 317 pages and detail some unnerving correspondences.
After Roy admitted to Carter that he wanted to kill himself, on June 29, 2014 she began to conspire with him, and suggested ways he could end his life.
'You better not be bullshitting me and saying you're gonna do this and then purposely get caught,' one of Carter’s messages read prior to his suicide. She subsequently asked whether she could say she was his girlfriend after his death.
On July 12, Roy spoke to Carter on the phone twice and was later found dead as a result of carbon-monoxide poisoning. Two months later, Carter sent what appeared to be a confession in a text message to her friend Samantha Boardman, which read: ‘I could have stopped him. I was on the phone with him and he got out of the car because it was working and he got scared and I f*cking told him to get back in. I could of stopped him but I f*cking didnt. All I had to say was I love you. [sic]’
In February 2015, Massachusetts state indicted Carter for involuntary manslaughter. The homicide charge carries a maximum 20-year sentence. At the beginning of the case in June 2017 Carter waived her right to a jury. On August 3, 2017 Judge Lawrence Moniz sentenced her to 15 months in prison. She was released in 2020 after less than a year, aged 23, and is currently serving five years on probation.
Who stars in The Girl From Plainville?
Alongside Fanning appears Dear Evan Hansen star Colton Ryan (who plays the late Conrad Roy III). Chloë Sevigny plays Conrad's mother, Lynn Roy, and Norbert Leo Butz (Bloodline) portrays his father, Conrad Roy II.
Stranger Things’ Cara Buono and Beginners’ Kai Lennox play Michelle's parents, Gail and David Carter, respectively.
Fanning, who also serves an executive producer on the show, is said to have wanted to tell the story of the case very sensitively.
‘She did not want this to feel sensational,’ showrunner Patrick Macmanus recently told Entertainment Weekly. ‘She wanted it to be an honest portrayal of not just these families and what they went through, but from what people are going through in general on a day-to-day basis when it comes to their mental health.
‘The first time that I met [Fanning], I was really struck by how eerily similar [she and Carter] actually looked just naturally. It was something that around the table when we all met, we all talked about,’ Macmanus recalled.
To help achieve the pair's resemblance, the make-up and hair stylists on the show put a wig, some ‘light makeup’, and a forehead prosthetic on the actor to push back her hairline, according to EW.
‘The physicality that Elle found in playing Michelle — she studied all of the courtroom tapes, she studied the documentary [HBO's I Love You, Now Die] — she really threw herself into making sure that the movement and the way she spoke was authentic, as well. So I think that in tandem with the change physically really brings it all together,’ co-showrunner Liz Hannah explained to the news outlet.
When will The Girl From Plainville be released?
The series is out in the US on Hulu at the moment.
We're yet to learn when viewers will be able to watch The Girl From Plainville in the UK. However, recent Hulu series have been found Disney+ in the UK at a later date, so it's likely The Girl From Plainville will follow suit in due course.
You can watch the newly-released trailer for the series at the top of this article.
We'll continue to update this article as more information comes in.
Katie O'Malley is the Site Director on ELLE UK. On a daily basis you’ll find Katie managing all digital workflow, editing site, video and newsletter content, liaising with commercial and sales teams on new partnerships and deals (eg Nike, Tiffany & Co., Cartier etc), implementing new digital strategies and compiling in-depth data traffic, SEO and ecomm reports. In addition to appearing on the radio and on TV, as well as interviewing everyone from Oprah Winfrey to Rishi Sunak PM, Katie enjoys writing about lifestyle, culture, wellness, fitness, fashion, and more.
