For Amanda Seyfried, the Peacock limited series offered a rare opportunity to play a character adapted from a book while working closely alongside the author, Liz Moore.

For Amanda Seyfried, who’s played both a trend-obsessed popular girl in Mean Girls and a biotech fraud in The Dropout, taking on the role of a Philadelphia police officer in Long Bright River is another challenge in her resume of eclectic roles.

The actress’s role as a Philadelphia beat cop in this Peacock series seems like an odd fit, but that’s the point. “I just wanted to prove to myself that nothing can feel too foreign,” she said.