Michelle Monaghan and Producer Brian Yorkey on Her Twisty Turn as Twins in Netflix’s Mystery Drama ‘Echoes’

Michelle Monaghan found herself pulling not just double duty playing twins Leni and Gina in Netflix’s twisty new mystery drama “Echoes,” but quadruple duty as she portrayed the women playing each other after they switched lives once a year.

The show, which is ready to become your next Netflix weekend binge, kicks off when Leni, who is living Gina’s life with Gina’s husband Charlie (Daniel Sunjata) in Los Angeles, gets a call from Leni’s true husband Jack (Matt Bomer), who tells her that Leni (who is actually Gina) is missing. And if all that sounds complicated, it was, but Monaghan worked to put in subtle details in her portrayals of the sisters.

“It was really, really important, obviously, to individuate these personas, these women,” Monaghan said. “They’re very, very different. I started really developing Leni from beginning to end, and then I developed Gina from beginning to end, and it was a lot. I mean, it’s a lot to do in one roll. And I was like, ‘Oh my God, now I’ve got to do two?  How am I gonna do this?’”

Also Read:
‘Echoes’ Review: Netflix Thriller Series Is Confusing, Ridiculous and Totally Addicting

Monaghan started building the characters by examining how childhood experiences impacted them.

“So I used that as the baseline, and I used Leni, the lion, as the firstborn of the twins, so [she] acted as more of the protector,” Monaghan continued. “And so really, she instigates a lot of the choices the twins incur and endure and there are definitely nuanced things that I tried to add to the characters, whether we’ll see it as an audience or not– because they pretty much flawlessly embody each other’s lives.”

While keeping spoiler-free about the show, from executive producers and co-showrunners Brian Yorkey (“13 Reasons Why”) and Quinton Peeples (“Runaways”), Monaghan did offer insight into some of the nuances she put into her performance.

“Leni definitely really leans into the Gina lifestyle in LA and so I really kind of pushed her not having to use the accent a little bit more – I pushed it, made it a little bit more LA,” Monaghan said of Leni dropping her light Mount Echo, Virginia lilt for mellow West Coast tones. “She wears a lot more of the bling that she bought, probably when she was living a year in LA. And then Gina doesn’t dress that way. She doesn’t embody the role of that glamorous ‘LA Gina’ as Gina, so there were definitely nuances.”

As Leni (as Gina) starts investigating her twin’s disappearance in their hometown, things escalate to a new level with secret caves, creepy woodlands and a suspicious sheriff getting involved. Brian Yorkey (“13 Reasons Why”), who was co-showrunner and executive producer alongside Quinton Peeples (“Runaways”), said Monaghan’s deep dive into the material meant he had to stay really engaged.

Also Read:
Michelle Monaghan to Play Dual Roles in Twin-Swap Thriller Series ‘Echoes’ at Netflix

Why the twins switch lives every year (and husbands) is something the series will dive into, but Yorkey hinted it has to do with the sisters’ “radical closeness.”

“Although they each have husbands, they have different lives, there is some specific closeness that they only get from each other,” Yorkey said, noting it started for Leni and Gina at a young age. “and proved to be something they just could not live without in their lives.

“They just did not separate and give themselves wholly for instance to their husbands, to their partners,” the showrunner continued. “They reserved some part that was only for them.”