“Bad Sisters” was a limited series, and the finale seemed to wrap everything up perfectly.

But then writer and star Sharon Horgan decided she wasn’t done with these characters and their saga. So Apple TV+’s critically acclaimed dark comedy drama returns for a second season as the Garvey sisters deal with the aftermath of season one’s murder and cover-up.

The sisters – played by Horgan, Anne-Marie Duff, Sarah Greene, Eva Birthistle and Eve Hewson – return, alongside Fiona Shaw as a nosy neighbor and Owen McDonnell as a love interest who may be too good to be true. The police investigate a newly discovered body and other crimes that could land the sisters in deep trouble.

Horgan recently spoke via video about what drew her back to the story. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Q: The first season was so great, and the finale seemed perfect. When did you decide to do a second season that delves into the guilt and collateral damage left over? Did you avoid messing with what you accomplished?

I felt then that the ending was also perfect. But I loved the cast and telling the story of these sisters and I had an idea of ​​what might happen, which is exactly what you said about consequences and guilt. I’m actually very grateful to have this opportunity because it felt like a fairy tale ending. But it wasn’t real life. And what people loved about the show was that it felt real, even though it was an extraordinary and almost ridiculous premise — it felt like real women were dealing with something terrible.

Grace is such a good person, but she’s also scarred by years of being in that relationship and being vulnerable. You don’t just kill your husband, the man you love, the father of your child and say “I do” and jump into the sea. Yes, but then what?

It was about telling the story of the ongoing trauma of being in such a relationship and the aftermath of it, and what happens if you, as a vulnerable person, leave yourself open to someone coming into your life who doesn’t want all the best. for you and how that shame would prevent you from reaching out to your family.

The impact of this season is a direct result of her relationship and the abuse, but for me it felt much more truthful and actually much more in play with what I love to write about, which is family and relationships and looking for the truth of them, looking for what’s underneath.

Q: My fiancee, a psychologistt who frequently deals with trauma, says the first two episodes of the new season accurately capture the trauma and PTSD that Grace would have felt. But that made those episodes darker in tone. Were you aware of this change while you were writing?

I almost didn’t because of that. We knew the story we wanted to tell, but not how far we were going to take it, I was a little nervous. Will this feel like the same show? I think what people want from a second season of any show is for it to feel the same but completely different.

So if we went that dark, I wondered if we’d be able to stick to the thing that makes this show — the comedic drama and irreverence of the sisters. But I thought it was really important to show what happens when that kind of guilt and shame gets to a point where there’s just a wall and you can’t go anywhere.

And there is a lot of joy too. I went to see a screening last night and there was so much laughter until all that emotion built up and then you could hear a pin drop. I feel like those moments can land much better than in a drama with a void of humor; when there was some comedy, then it really hits you in the head.

Q: There’s a lot of moral ambiguity here, the idea that people can be heroes and victims and perpetrators, depending on the context. We love and support the sisters, however they committed or concealed a crime; we laugh and scorn the lead detective, but serious crimes have indeed been committed.

It’s all about moral ambiguity, especially when you watch it all the way through. It’s about the choices we make that feed into that equation, where good people do bad or at least very questionable things.

With the first season, there was a catharsis for people watching to be able to hate a horrible character. This time it’s the police establishment – ​​if you can’t trust the people who are supposed to protect you, where do you go? Yes, crimes have been committed, but there are plenty of reasons to feel unsafe as a woman, even around the police.

That was something that kept coming up while we were shooting the first season, and I wanted to use that. I feel like we should all be a lot more upset about how easy it is to get away with things and how hard it is to punish even the bad guys. It seems there is only one kind of excuse for racist and sexist institutions. I wanted to illuminate that but make it feel like a natural part of the story.

Q: How conscious are you of balancing plot, character development, humor, and larger themes?

It’s a nightmare. The scripts are always too long because I work a lot on the characters. That’s what drew people to the series. But the thriller must be this propulsive thing. So anything that felt like a character, I’d make sure there was a way to tie into the plot of the thriller, so if someone wanted to cut it, I’d say, “That can’t work.”

Or I might get a note from the executive saying, “I don’t know if this is the right place for that joke,” and I’d say, “Let me just try.” It can always go into editing. But I feel like there’s a gallows humor even around death, as you are with your siblings, and also when you’re trying to deal with the darkest moment in your life – terrible things are said and terribly funny things are said , and it just pierces the tension gives you a little release and then it’s awful again. But those moments have to exist. They exist in life.

Q: After two seasons, do you see more of yourself in Eva now? Do you see more of Eva in you?

I think there’s weirdly a lot more of me in her this season, and I think that’s because in order to flesh her out and get her to a place where she’s made peace with some things and worked on herself, that i was I do in my own life.

Well, I’ll never be as good as Eva. That’s the problem. Although I am better than before. I am a less selfish person. I am more aware of other people. I guess that also comes from a lifetime of making mistakes.