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TOWN & COUNTRY — If television is to be believed, Chicago’s law firms are some of the most dramatic places on the planet. Take, for example, the burgeoning legal career of Maia Rindell, played here by Game of Thrones alum Rose Leslie. She’s barely begun her post as a newbie at Lockhart, Decker, Gussman, Lee, Lyman, Gilbert-Lurie, Kagan, Tannebaum & Associates when her life explodes—something about a billionaire father turning out to be a fraud can do that—and a chain of events is set in motion that will drive the first season of The Good Fight, the new series airing now on CBS All Access.

If the name of the series alone didn’t tip you off, the show is a sequel of sorts to The Good Wife, which ended its celebrated run last year. Fight was also created by Robert and Michelle King, and follows some of Wife’s characters (namely the brilliant Christine Baranski as Diane Lockhart and Cush Jumbo as Lucca Quinn) as they continue to navigate the Windy City’s turbulent legal scene. It’s Scottish-born Leslie, however, who’s at the heart of the show, and here the actress chats with T&C about what made it a part she couldn’t turn down.

In the very first episode of this series, Maia’s life is almost completely turned around. She’s gone from anonymous legal associate to being attacked in elevators by strangers her father might have bilked out of their savings. I can’t imagine it’s every day you find a part this complex.
The fact that Maya is almost unjustly targeted was a hook for me. We watch this young woman fight–in her personal and professional life—and I love that she’s someone whose career is about to take off when the rug is pulled out from under her. I wanted to explore someone so resilient, who people can root for through such an awful event.

You’ve previously been on series like Downton Abbey and Game of Thrones. What made you go looking for something like The Good Fight?
I feel incredibly privileged to give you this response: I was offered the part. The Kings got in touch and asked me to read the pilot. So, I did that and the how was written so brilliantly that I immediately responded to the character.

The series is fictional, but some of the events do have that pulled-from-the-headlines feeling. Did you take any inspiration from real-life situations of the same ilk?
Before I started, I read Stephanie Madoff Mack’s memoir, The End of Normal. Reading that book was heartrending, as a human being learning about the way someone else’s life has been flipped upside down. That was something that allowed me to almost get an understanding of just how appalling it must have been to be in her situation. You can really only imagine; it’s catastrophic.

Again, this all happens in the first episode! What does the rest of the first season hold for Maia?
What’s within Maia is an innate desire to prove her worth, to show to everyone that she can handle everything that’s thrown her way. But there’s also the realization that her father might not be as innocent as she wants to believe. You really see her mindset develop.

The series certainly stands on its own, but there are winks to anyone who watched The Good Wife. How did you feel about joining that world, which already has such a history?
I did watch The Good Wife, and when I started having conversations about this series, I knew it would be similar—there’s still « good » in the title—but I chose it for the writing and because of the talent that’s attached. Christine Baranski and Cush Jumbo are so fantastic! So, being able to carry on some of that story was something I was thrilled to be a part of.

The show takes place in Chicago, but you’ve been filming in New York. How’s that been for a Londoner?
We’ve been in New York since October and have about a month left. It’s been treating me incredibly well! I’m living in Brooklyn and have such an affinity for this city. I’ve never been in New York for longer than a week at any one time, so the idea of coming for a five-month stint was such a pull, and it’s been everything I hoped it would be.

So, you get to go home in a month! How will you spend the time off?
I’m thinking of parking myself in my favorite pub and holding court. I’ll tell people I’ll be there for about six days and they can all stop by. (source)

WE LIVE ENTERTAINMENT – It’s official, The Good Wife is a franchise now. The spinoff The Good Fight stars Christine Baranski and Cush Jumbo as their characters Diane and Lucca. Rose Leslie plays the brand new character of Maia Rindell, Diane’s goddaughter who ends up working with her.

After the Television Critics Association panel for The Good Fight, I spoke with Leslie in the scrum, as we call it, where reporters follow up with stars from the panel. The Good Fight premieres tonight on CBS All Access, a streaming service without the restrictions of broadcast.

Since you were on Game of Thrones, is the language and sexuality of streaming still tame to you?
Do you know what? For the first time, I have now been filmed in a shower. So I felt that that was a new way of exploring the character’s sexuality without it being too gratuitous. I am hopefully very discreetly covering my breasts with my arm.

How awkward is it to film those scenes?
It was my first ever. I felt incredibly supported by the director, Brooke Kennedy. Then the wonderful actress who plays my girlfriend, Helene Yorke, she and I bonded and we realized that yes, this was something that was very true to the relationship that these two ladies have. It’s very loving, very comfortable in their own skin, incredibly comfortable with their own sexuality and they are there for one another. So it suddenly became the two of them, two souls together supporting them. So it was awkward for both of us. Of course, we didn’t do it in one take. We did it in a couple of takes but after the first take it was then kind of like okay, here we go. Let’s make sure that we can show them in the best light possible.

Honeymoon had some intimate scenes too.
Absolutely. That had some intimate scenes and you’re bang on, because we were in a shower as well. It was far more, as you say, intimate and behind the curtain as it were so it didn’t feel so much of a wide shot. Yes, that had some very intimate scenes. I actually saw the director last night at a viewing party which is really lovely. Leigh Janiak, that was a really lovely thing. I hadn’t seen her in a couple of years.

Tell us about Maia personally and professionally.
She is a young lawyer. We basically see her as a law student, literally on the cusp of taking her bar exam. Then suddenly very rapidly, the cushy life that she lives, a very privileged life she lives suddenly gets swept and taken out from beneath her feet. All the revelations of her father’s fraud and the Ponzi scheme spins everything out of control. Then she is taken into the wonderful, welcoming arms of Diane Lockhart. We see her process and struggle with the damage that something like that can do, and the understanding just how it ripples through everybody’s life. Obviously we kind of pulled it from the Madoff situation and just how appalling a catastrophe like this can be and the effects that it has on your day to day life and your mental health. It must be an awful thing to go through.

Is Maia going to be a lawyer?
She managed to pass the bar exam, yes. So she’s a lawyer herself.

Do you get some fabulous courtroom monologues?
So far, I still feel that I haven’t been given them yet. So yes, I think possibly Robert and Michelle [King] are hopefully waiting for that to happen. So far no, I haven’t had any court monologues. I can’t wait. I’ve heard the court days are very, very long so there’s a little bit of trepidation in approaching one of those long days but yeah, I’m looking forward to it. I think they are treating the character as a newbie in terms of having to see that process develop for her finally to own the courtroom and to own that floor and to make sure that she comes across as talented as she is.

What was the last thing you fought for?
Can it be something really ridiculous and trivial? It usually is. I fought for a bagel this morning. Somebody was going to reach for it and I was like, “No, sorry. That’s the last one. I haven’t had breakfast yet.” Here, backstage. It was very rude of me.

Is doing a real world set show very different from fantasy, or is it all the same to you?
I would say that of course it’s different. Of course, it is. The wonderful thing about The Good Fight is that we are in present day. This is modern time and I get to wear some clothes that aren’t shrouded in fur. I get some high heels which are painful after a while. I would say the storyline particularly for The Good Fight is something that absolutely keeps me engrossed in this particular genre, in this particular world so it’s wonderful to b able to dip your toes in and out of all the different fantasy elements and go back to kind of reality.

How many times did you go in for this part?
I feel incredibly honored, the Kings asked me to play the role of Maia so obviously I jumped at the opportunity at being able to work and collaborate with them.

How is New York treating you?
What a fabulous part, to be able to accept a job and then live in New York City. It’s one of the world’s greatest cities so I feel incredibly privileged. Beautifully, because I’ve got the East River quite close to where I am, I think it’s rather wonderful. I am in Williamsburg so it’s really, really lovely. That area is just fabulous. You’ve got your parks and the water, but it’s cold. I’ve done one day of that.
Rose Leslie

What was growing up in a castle like?
I’m from Scotland. My parents live in Scotland so that was my upbringing. It was cold. It’s very drafty. There isn’t any central heating so there’s no romantic element to living in a castle. It’s pretty freezing but wonderful to be able to play hide and seek with your siblings. I had an incredibly happy childhood.

So kingdoms have been in your blood.
You could say that, yes.

And your castle is available on Airbnb?
Yes, it’s wonderful. I’m one of five children. My parents, with all of the children having flown the nest, it is a house that needs to be lived in. So it’s wonderful that it’s open for people to come and explore Scotland. It’s in the countryside. I’m biased but the countryside is beautiful. It’s in Aberdeenshire.

Do your parents still live there?
They still live there.

What do you miss the most from home?
This is going to sound bonkers, and I kind of get a little bit of relief from New York, but the weather. I love it cold, man. It was raining today. It was really full on. I woke up this morning and I was like, “That is a proper kind of shower happening outside.” From everyone I’ve spoken to, I think L.A. needs a bit of rain is what I’ve heard.

Do you still hear “You know nothing, Jon Snow” every day?
Delightfully, I am. It’s so lovely that it is something that is adored by so many people.

(source)