Based on the novel The Executioners, as well as the 1962 and 1991 film adaptations, Cape Fear updates the story for the present day while still honoring what came before it. I had the chance to speak with showrunner/EP Nick Antosca, Amy Adams, Javier Bardem, and Patrick Wilson about exploring the series from a female perspective, never having a clear villain, delving deeper into the characters, and more. The first four episodes are now streaming on Apple TV.

Inspired by the 1991 remake directed by Martin Scorsese and produced by Steven Spielberg, a storm is coming for happily married attorneys Anna (Amy Adams) and Tom Bowden (Patrick Wilson) when Max Cady (Javier Bardem), the notorious killer they are responsible for putting behind bars, is let out of prison — and he wants vengeance.

“I love all these characters. Obviously, Max, Anna, and Tom are complex, juicy roles, and we wanted to make sure we spent the time exploring them and that the arcs were complex, that we took full advantage of the TV storytelling to give them really harrowing journeys,” Antosca told me. “In the films, in the iconic performances by Mitchum and De Niro, you know from the beginning that Max is malevolent, and you know that he’s guilty of the crime that he was convicted of; there’s no question about that. What we talked about, what Javier and I talked about when we started, was that there would be more ambiguity, more moral ambiguity about this version of Max Cady.”

“We take for granted that he has committed the crime, but through the whole show, there are many doubts about that fact, and that makes him more vulnerable and more reliable for the audience,” Bardem, who is also an executive producer, explained. “You don’t know at a moment if he’s using that as an excuse to justify his actions or if he’s innocent. You know less about him, and that makes him more dangerous for the audience, I think.”

“With them doing the gender swap, it sort of changes a lot in not only how Anna has her own relationship with shame and guilt, but how society would view her,” the actress/executive producer shared. “Is she being believed as a woman trying to speak out? It adds just such a different dimension, too, especially playing against Javier’s Max, that’s so charming and so able to walk that line of believability. It was a great thing to explore. Also, to then get to explore her as a mother and a wife, and our relationship and the familial relationship, it allowed for that in a way that felt very organic.”

“When I came on, and they were already on board, I knew even before reading it, I had a real good guess that the female characters were certainly going to be brought out in a much more profound way and much more important to the story. I’m not taking anything away from the other versions, but leaning in on that, it really gave this great balance, too, to what would that do to the family structure, right? Because I only know as a dad, as a provider and a protector, and yet you were constantly trying to figure out who is what in the relationship of the family and at work,” Wilson expressed. “Those are all fascinating dynamics for us to play with that haven’t been explored to this extent in other versions.”

Watch my full interview below:

New episodes of Cape Fear premiere every Friday through July 31.