‘Get Millie Black’ Star Tamara Lawrance Says Jamaica Location ‘Massively’ Impacted Her Detective Thriller

Note: The following story contains spoilers from “Get Millie Black” Season 1, Episode 1.

On paper, “Get Millie Black” seems any other detective thriller in a TV climate that loves this particular subgenre. But as the series dives more into detective Millie-Jean Black’s (Tamara Lawrance) dedicated quest to save as many missing girls as possible, it becomes clear that’s not the case at all. So much of what makes HBO and Channel 4’s latest seres so distinct can be found in its setting.

“We filmed in Kingston, which was so crucial to the storytelling because of the texture of the landscape, how people talk and move and interact,” Lawrance told TheWrap. “I think [filming in Jamaica] informed it massively, even being around the accent every day.”

Created by Marlon James, “Get Millie Black” follows a detective who was born in Jamaica but was separated by her sibling during childhood. While Millie was sent to the United Kingdom, the woman who would become her sister Hibiscus (Chyna McQueen) was forced to endure their mother’s abusive household alone. Because of this complicated sister dynamic, “Get Millie Black” becomes just as much of a saga about otherness as it does about attempted repentance. The more Millie tries to integrate herself in her homeland as a member of the Jamaican Police Force, the more she’s side eyed. And the more she tries to make up her departure by taking actions like offering her trans sister housing and devoting her life to finding missing young women, the more she’s held at a distance.

Lawrance, whose mother is Jamaican but who grew up in the United Kingdom, noted that even Millie’s accent is a nod the odd position she inhabits of being from this world but not of it.

“Even her accent, as a point of reference, isn’t as contemporary as I found being around the people I was working with. That really helped, hearing cadences and the ways in which people laugh and share jokes with each other,” Lawrance said. “[Millie] is somebody who doesn’t mince words. She’s not flowery. So even though she is British-Jamaican and spent most of her time in the U.K., being there allowed me to find parts of her physicality and temperament that were allegiant to the people I was meeting.”

The setting of the series also heavily informs its plot when it comes to Millie’s sister, Hibiscus. To prepare for the role, Lawrance researched the queer and trans community in Jamaica, highlighting the work of organizations like Quality of Citizenship Jamaica, J-FLAG and TransWave Jamaica. Currently, sex between two consenting same-sex people is legally punishable by up to 10 years in prison. There have also been several instances of violence against trans people, particularly vulnerable trans youth, a topic that the series explores in depth as Millie tries to help and understand her sister.

“We had some rehearsal weeks to form a connection and talk through the scenes with the director. Then, because the project was happening chronologically, the more the shoot went on, the closer we got in real life. We ended up being a support system for each other,” Lawrance said of her co-star, Chyna McQueen. “But for me, I’m really enamored of Millie’s allyship.”

Chyna McQueen as Hibiscus in “Get Millie Black” (Photo Credit: HBO)

Lawrance pointed to one of the key moments in the first episode, which show Hibiscus fleeing for her life after a group of men jump her and her friends. Though she manages to escape the gang relatively unharmed, Hibiscus’ friend isn’t as lucky.

“This is a very real and pressing thing that happens to trans people all around the world. Especially with Millie being in the world of crime and justice as it were, she sees these statistics and knows that Hibiscus isn’t safe,” Lawrance said. “Millie really wants to control Hibiscus and give her younger sister a family home and this idyllic life she’s built in her head now that she’s returned to the country. But Hibiscus is very much trying to say ‘This is who I am now. The sibling left behind is not the person who is here. For this relationship to work, you have to accept me.’”

In addition to influencing the plot of the the series, actually shooting in Jamaica posed its own set of challenges. Lawrance noted that the climate was “10 to 15 degrees hotter” than what she was used to, requiring her to increase her water intake and make sure she was properly rested. Fatigue and heat stroke were real concerns on set.

But more than anything else, Lawrance is mostly excited for viewers to discover the “fascinating, complicated and layered” character that is Millie and to enjoy the mystery of the drama. “I hope people are along with the ride with Millie. I hope people can maybe see things that she can’t see. But I also hope that people are very surprised by this story, because I do think that there are a lot of Pandora’s boxes and characters who do things that you don’t expect,” Lawrance teased.

New episodes of “Get Millie Black” premiere on HBO and Max Mondays at 9 p.m. ET/PT.