Like most parents, Chris Evans and Michelle Dockery have some thoughts about Jaeden Martell’s hair.

The trio play the seemingly idyllic Barber family in Apple TV+’s Defending Jacob, and before the show’s April 24 debut, they staged a makeshift family reunion on Zoom, with Dockery calling in from her home in London, Evans from Boston, and Martell from Los Angeles. As soon as the video feed flickered on, all three began waving and grinning at the sight of each other, like any long-distance kin who’ve been separated by quarantine. Evans immediately started peppering the 17-year-old Martell with playful questions about his newly bleached blond hair: “Is that for work, or is that for you?”

“Just for fun,” Martell replied. “Because why not?”

“It looks great!” Dockery gushed, as Martell pointed out Evans’ recent buzz cut. “It’s utilitarian,” Evans said with a shrug, running his hand over his head.

Even separated by several time zones, Evans, Dockery, and Martell have an easy chemistry that makes them particularly believable as a family unit. And at first, Defending Jacob’s Barber family seem to be every bit the close-knit, white-picket-fence suburbanites they present on the outside. Their sense of normalcy shatters, however, when a local boy is found stabbed on a nearby jogging path. The boy, Ben, was a classmate of 14-year-old Jacob (It alum Martell), and the youngest Barber is soon arrested on suspicions of murder. Suddenly, mom Laurie (Downton Abbey’s Dockery) and dad Andy (Evans, a.k.a. Captain America) find themselves rushing to defend their son, as they privately question how well they really know him — and each other.

Writer Mark Bomback and director Morten Tyldum adapted William Landay’s 2012 novel into eight episodes, following the Barbers as they hole up in their house, dodging accusations from law enforcement, inquiries from the media, and dirty looks from neighbors. As an added wrinkle, Andy is an assistant district attorney — specifically the assistant district attorney who was investigating Ben’s murder, up until his own son’s arrest.

Ahead of the show’s premiere on Apple TV+, Evans, Dockery, and Martell open up about deceit, trust, and family bonding.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: This is such a wild, twisty story. What was it that made each of you want to be a part of this?

MICHELLE DOCKERY: I was really compelled by the scripts that I read initially, which I think were the first three. I just thought it was an amazing story and quite different to most crime dramas, as it focuses more on the effects it has on the family. That certainly was an interest for me. And Mark is just such a brilliant writer. For me, it always starts with the material.

This show has a lot of the hallmarks of your traditional murder mystery thriller — red herrings, cliffhangers, hidden secrets. But it’s uniquely centered on this family relationship and the idea of trust. What was it about that theme of family that you guys wanted to explore?

DOCKERY: They differ in their journey so much, Andy and Laurie. So much of the struggle for her is the guilt that she carries: “Is this true? Is this my fault? Did I do something wrong?” And I think it really highlights what parents go through, the anxieties that come from being a parent, how you create this person.

This feels like a little bit of a departure for each of you. Did you get to try any new skills or explore any new territory?

DOCKERY: I mean, it’s always challenging playing Americans. I’m having to play them a lot at the moment. I had to work just that little bit harder because with an accent, it doesn’t come naturally to me. I learned with this one that it does take a bit more homework.

What do you think was your biggest challenge on this show overall?

DOCKERY: For me, it was how emotional the role was. There were moments where I would have to say to Morten, “How far should I go in the scene?” As we were piecing it together, I was always thinking to myself, “Am I crying in every scene?” [Laughs] It was important to strike a balance with Laurie [where] she wasn’t a complete wreck the whole time. That was a challenge, trying to find the moments where she really holds it together and the times where she was allowed to fall apart and be vulnerable.

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The series follows Massachusetts District Attorney Andy Barber (Chris Evans), who begins working with the cops to investigate the murder of an eighth grader in his small town and very quickly learns that the main suspect is a classmate — his son, Jacob (Jaeden Martell). But instead of examining the case through Jacob’s eyes, the story is told through Andy and his wife Laurie’s (Michelle Dockery) as they grapple with the accusations against the child they thought they knew.

Dockery was last seen on the small screen as a Southern con artist in TNT’s Good Behavior. But for Defending Jacob, the Brit best known as Downton Abbey’s Lady Mary didn’t even attempt to make her American accent a notoriously difficult Boston one.

“I love a challenge. If it had been a Boston accent, I would have gone for it. I would have dove in and hoped for the best,” says Dockery. “It’s not an easy accent, so I was pleased that it was just a general American accent for Laurie. I do really enjoy playing characters that have accents and are from completely different backgrounds from me. I’ve rarely played characters that are my own voice. I think I’ve done one project where it was my voice, everything else has been an accent.”

The entry point for the series, really, is through Andy and Laurie’s struggle to come to terms with the fact that maybe they didn’t know their child as well as they thought they did, and the ethically and morally questionable things that these normally law-abiding parents would do to protect him.

“This is, in many ways, a nightmare. It’s the worst possible thing that could happen to a parent,” says Bomback. As investigators, they’re way too biased. “They have everything to lose, and they’re going to bring so many facts to this that may be irrelevant, maybe aren’t. In many ways, my job was to give you this very subjective experience watching it, that you are the third parent in this equation and trying to weigh in. What do I think? Hopefully the audience at some points will say, ‘Oh, I’m sure he must have done it.’ ‘Oh, I don’t think he did do it.’ And part of the fun, for lack of a better word, is where does that intersect with where the parents’ heads are at that same moment?”

And while Andy makes some decisions that a good prosecutor would know skirt the boundaries of what is ethically acceptable, Laurie is consumed with guilt that she had dismissed some of Jacob’s questionable behavior in the past, and that she could potentially be culpable in a child’s death.

Says Dockery, “There are two parents that are both trying to cope in their own way. And at times it really clashes, and it begins to chip away at their relationship. Another great thing about the show is that it really explores a marriage and what something like this could do to a couple.”

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Chris Evans may have played superhero Captain America on-screen, but he admits that a real acting challenge for him has been playing a parent.

Defending Jacob follows the Barber family and what happens when their only child, Jacob (Jaedan Martell) is arrested on charges of killing a fellow classmate.

Jacob’s father Andy, played by Evans, happens to be the district attorney, which causes an extreme moral conflict for Andy as he tries to support his son while not really sure of the boy’s exact involvement in the crime.

Downton Abbey alum Michelle Dockery plays Jacob’s mother, who struggles to understand just how to help her son, and suffers social ostracism because of her parental actions.

Dockery says that she signed on to play the maternal figure in Defending Jacob for reasons similar to Evans. “What I was drawn to is really tapping into how you would react as a parent and what lengths you would go to to protect your child. And I’d never really read anything like this before. I was just so instantly drawn to the project. She’s very different from any other character that I’ve played.”

She added with a slight smirk, “You know, I like doing accents, so I liked playing another American.”

Morten Tyldum, executive producer and director of the series, says that assembling the family was key to the success of the series. “One of the things we were worried about is did we really believe in and care for this family? The heart of this story is about a family who’s experienced this extraordinary situation, this nightmare, this thing that both tears them apart and pulls them together in some way. You need to believe 100 percent that this is a family.”

To that end, Dockery says, “I felt like it was very easy for us to become a family on set. We all had a really lovely time together in spite of the intensity of the subject matter.”

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A good thriller keeps viewers on the edge of their seats. A great thriller keeps viewers on the edge of their seats even when they know what’s coming. Just ask Defending Jacob star Michelle Dockery, who watched all eight episodes of the limited series — based on the 2012 William Landay bestseller — after filming. “I kept holding my breath!” she says. “Watching a thriller like that is what we [as viewers] love. That [intense] feeling you have as the story unravels.”

For the Barber family, unimaginable problems pile up quickly. Happy suburban couple Laurie (Dockery) and Andy (The Avengers’ Chris Evans) are blindsided when their mild-mannered teen son, Jacob (Jaeden Martell, Masters of Sex), is accused of stabbing a classmate to death. Immediately, the Barbers’ close-knit community turns on them. “The way it’s portrayed, it’s very real,” Dockery promises. She lets us in on more neighborhood secrets.

How faithful is the series to the book?

Michelle Dockery: What’s great about this story is there are so many twists and turns, and the TV version is very similar. And there are some added twists and turns, certainly. So you never know quite which way it’s going to go. The book is a real page-turner, and each episode has a cliffhanger.

There’s a scene where Laurie insists, “A mother knows her child.” Do you think she’s blinded by her love for Jacob?

I want the audience to see it as it plays out. But the show brings up questions of how far you would go to protect your family. Can you believe your child? Do you believe your child?

After the news of his arrest breaks, Laurie’s best friend shuns her, and the Barbers’ house is vandalized. Many in the community assume Jacob is guilty from the outset.

It’s out there immediately, and social media plays a huge part in that. Certainly Jacob’s face is everywhere. They can’t go anywhere as a family. On top of having their lives completely changed, everything is pulled from under them and they have nothing to hold on to.

Shifting gears a bit, last year’s Downton Abbey movie was such a hit. Would you be up for playing Lady Mary again in a sequel?

I would love to. We had such a good time doing the film, so if there is an opportunity to do another one, I hope that we would all hold hands and jump in again.

We’re all stuck inside these days. What are you watching?

Reruns of The Sopranos. It’s one of the great shows of all time. And I’m loving [cheerleading docuseries] Cheer on Netflix. I’m on Episode 2 and already crying and rooting for them all!

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The series will premiere the first three episodes on Friday, April 24th.

I’ve also added some posters and stills from the first three episodes. Enjoy!

Hello, everyone! The Gentlemen was released on VOD (video on demand) yesterday, so I have uploaded HD screencaps to the gallery. I hope you all enjoy the movie. It was definitely a different role Michelle.

Huge thank you to Claudia for her help!

Huge thank you to Jay for these!