'Sirens': Unpacking that shocking finale with stars Meghann Fahy, Milly Alcock

USA Today

23-05-2025

'Sirens': Unpacking that shocking finale with stars Meghann Fahy, Milly Alcock
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Meghann Fahy calls 'Sirens' co-star Kevin Bacon the 'coolest guy ever'
Meghann Fahy chats with USA TODAY's Ralphie Aversa about working with Kevin Bacon on Netflix's limited series "Sirens" and more.
Spoiler alert: This story discusses details of Netflix's new limited series 'Sirens.' So if you haven't binged all five episodes yet, put on some Lilly Pulitzer and push play on Episode 1.
If you've been called to Netflix's new limited series 'Sirens,' you might be wondering about that shocking ending.
The five-episode 'Sirens' (now streaming) introduces viewers to the elite world of Michaela Kell, (Julianne Moore), a woman who regrets swapping her career for the security of being old-money Peter Kell's (Kevin Bacon) wife. 'When you're a Mrs. Somebody, your life gets huge,' Michaela says, 'and you get very tiny.' Nonetheless, Michaela's fabulous life, practically ripped from the pages of Architectural Digest seems ideal to Simone (Milly Alcock), Michaela's devoted assistant, who's desperate to escape her traumatic upbringing and a father who neglected her after her mother's death by suicide.
Alcock, 25, says her character is similar to a swan. 'Beautiful above water, but underneath it's frantically kicking to kind of stay afloat,' she says. 'She's got no safety net. She's really struggling.'
Simone's sister Devon (Meghann Fahy) dropped out of college, sacrificing her own future, to raise Simone after their mom died. Devon is now tasked with taking care of their ailing father (Bill Camp), who's been diagnosed with early-onset dementia. Overwhelmed and fed up with Simone's behavior, Devon heads to the Kell estate hoping to bring her sister home to help. But Simone has other plans, and a boyfriend, the Kells' neighbor Ethan (Glenn Howerton).
'We see Devon feel that frustration in certain moments, and then feel guilty about feeling it,' Fahy, 35, says. 'It's that cycle that she's been in by herself, because her sister has just not been around and hasn't seen the dad in over a decade. So there's a little bit of resentment I think there too, that she's had to shoulder it entirely on her own.'
Simone's world is rocked in the finale when Michaela fires her for sharing a kiss with Peter, which he initiated.
In that moment, Simone is 'losing everything,' Alcock says. ''Everything that I've built and worked for has fallen apart.' I think that she is dying.'
Desperate to stay, Simone informs Peter that Michaela is keeping a photo of their kiss in her vault, which is the final straw for Peter. He tells Michaela their marriage is over during an elaborate Labor Day weekend party at their home, and Simone swoops in to replace Michaela as Peter's date, because Peter thinks he's in love with her.
In the last minutes of the finale, Devon expresses her disbelief that her sister could betray Michaela in such a way.
'If it doesn't serve you, let it go,' Simone tells Devon coldly, regarding Michaela. Simone's thinking, says Alcock, that 'she's gone through so much pain that surely she deserves a bit of peace.'
For Devon, it's harder to be so self-serving.
'I want to go home and take care of Dad,' Devon says. 'Dropping out of college to take care of you is the best thing I've ever done. I don't think you understand how proud I am of myself that I did that. You didn't serve me, and I didn't let you go. But now I have to.'
'That is one of my favorite scenes in the series,' says Fahy. 'It's a really special moment, because when we meet Devon, she's pretty self-loathing in a lot of ways, and she's got some pretty bad habits, self-destructive habits, and I don't think that she has given herself any credit for all of the things that she's accomplished in her life. So I think for her to arrive at a place where she's able to give that grace to herself in that moment is really, really lovely to see.'
And while Devon heads back to Buffalo, Alcock predicts Simone would be happy enough with Peter and swiftly make plans to solidify her place as the new Mrs. Kell, Peter's latest and hopefully his last love.
'I think that Simone gets pregnant very quickly,' Alcock says. 'She's smart enough to know that she's not going to sign a pre-nup, or she's going to make some edits to the pre-nup. She's clever.
'This is a story of survival for her, ultimately,' Alcock adds, 'which is why her behavior is very drastic and dramatic and unforgiving, and she doesn't compromise for other people. I think that she's got her hands in a few pots in his finances, in his estates, and I think that she lives happily ever after for as long as that may be, or it can be with someone like Mr. Kell.'
While the show has been advertised as a limited series, Alcock says she's game for a second season, if creator Molly Smith Metzler, who adapted her 2011 play "Elemeno Pea," is interested.
'She has to write it,' Alcock says, 'otherwise no.'