’The Couple Next Door’s Sam Heughan and Jessica De Gouw on Whether Danny and Becka’s Marriage Will Survive That Shocking Finale

[Editor’s note: The following contains spoilers for the finale of The Couple Next Door.]

Summary

• An idyllic neighborhood hides secrets, testing the love of two couples in the drama series ‘The Couple Next Door.’
• Chemistry turns to obsession in an affair between Danny and new neighbor Evie, with dangerous consequences.
• The foursome’s commitment to their characters, changing allegiances, and vulnerable moments make for a compelling drama.

In the drama series The Couple Next Door, which aired in the U.S. on Starz, an idyllic suburban neighborhood is hiding secrets that will ultimately test the love of traffic cop Danny (Sam Heughan) and his yoga instructor wife Becka (Jessica De Gouw), as well as new neighbors Evie (Eleanor Tomlinson) and Pete (Alfred Enoch). The two couples become friends, sharing intimate details and their deepest desires, which seems to awaken something in Evie. When an undeniable chemistry between leads to a moment of passion between Danny and Evie, it quickly turns to an obsession with dangerous consequences that lead to a breaking point. A violent showdown leads to painful truths and the couples must decide if their love for each other is enough.

After watching the season, Collider got the opportunity to chat with Heughan and De Gow about the foursome’s commitment to their characters, changing allegiances, never judging Danny and Becka, trying to make the scene in the rain between Danny and Evie look sexy, how rewarding it felt to be so vulnerable, the experience of exploring the consequences, and whether they think their characters would stay together.

Collider: I feel like the moral of this story is that maybe you should reconsider becoming too friendly with your neighbors. When you do something like this, do you feel like you’ll be looking at any new neighbors you might have a bit differently from now on?

JESSICA DE GOUW: I know my neighbors very, very well and we are not gonna get in this situation. I love them dearly. This is not for us.

SAM HEUGHAN: Yeah, I don’t really know my neighbors that well. Maybe that’s a good thing, but maybe this is the catalyst for me to get to know them better. I think I should. But I can’t really go ‘round and say, “Hey, watch my TV show. Can we hang out now?” It’s gonna be fine.

Sam Heughan and Jessica De Gouw Were Fully Committed to Their ‘The Couple Next Door’ Characters

“We’re just so fortunate that it was such a talented, amazing group of people that came together.”

To pull off a series like this, you need four actors who are all in and fully committed because things get a little bit wild. And it’s not just about your individual character arc, but it’s also about the couple and who they are together, and the other couple and who they are together. When did you guys all actually meet each other? Did you have conversations or rehearsals to figure out what all the pieces of that dynamic would be?

HEUGHAN: You’re absolutely right, this requires you to be 100% committed. We had such an amazing ensemble of talent. I have great love for this cast. We all turned up and stood in each of our character’s corners and fought for them, but also, at the same time, we sat down and really tried to work it out. Myself and Jess, especially, worked on how Danny and Becka got into this situation, which is this turning point in their relationship, and their ground rules and the way that they’ve chosen to live their lives. It certainly did require us all to bond pretty quickly and pretty strongly. We’re just so fortunate that it was such a talented, amazing group of people that came together.

Sam, I’ve never quite seen traffic cops portrayed in such an exciting way before either. What was it like to have that whole part of the story and really up the stakes for your character in that way? It felt like that could have been its own crime caper.

DE GOUW: That was such an interesting part of the show. Sam shot that entirely separately to us because we didn’t overlap on that. So, watching all of that, I was like, “Oh, wow, he’s really doing that.”

HEUGHAN: It’s surprising. One of the joys and the success of the show is that you make assumptions about what it is and about who these characters are. After each episode, you’re like, “Oh, my God, they did that?” It’s a show that people will hopefully be talking about being like, “Oh, my God, did he do that?” Your allegiance to the characters changes throughout as the show.

That was like its own little mini action series inside of a character drama.

HEUGHAN: And in the end, it all comes back. It’s not just Danny, but Pete as well, as that circles back into the story. It’s a fun, action-packed finale.

‘The Couple Next Door’s Danny and Becka Are Making the Right Decisions for Them

“You could say that there’s a recklessness or a lack of forward thinking, but they’re also still just trying to get by.”

These are characters that do things that it’s easy to have an opinion about. What did you most enjoy about digging into and playing characters that are so flawed and complicated, and who do things that are somewhat unlikable and hard to justify? Is it fun to have those layers to play with, especially as the people who are not supposed to be judging their characters?

DE GOUW: Yeah, you totally nailed it. It’s not our place to judge our characters. The moment you do judge a character, you lose the depth and the nuance. These are just people who are making the best decisions for themselves at the time with the information they have. You could say that there’s a recklessness or a lack of forward thinking, but they’re also still just trying to get by and survive and be loved and form connections and be happy. They might be looking in the wrong places for some of that, but it’s all we can do. We can only make the best decision for us, at the time.

Sam, whenever things tend to get really sexy in a TV show or movie, there’s the inevitable scene in the rain. How challenging is it to shoot a scene like that while you’re getting pummeled with rain and still trying to be sexy?

HEUGHAN: That scene was stolen from The Notebook. It was four in the morning, getting pummeled with the rain while running at each other as fast as we could, and then trying to pick Eleanor up, poor girl, without me dropping her. And you know what? The whole way through, she didn’t complain once. She’s incredible. It’s a fantasy sequence. It always looks better on camera than the reality of it, on a night shoot. We were soggy and a bit wet, but we actually had a blast. I’ve got some great photos of us both standing under the jets, getting drenched.

Jessica, after everything that Becka goes through, with the neighbor that’s spying on her and violating her and that way, it’s nice to see her take a bit of her power back. She starts to not wait for answers to her questions. Was it important to you, for Becka’s story arc, to take the wheel of her life back?

DE GOUW: Yeah, definitely. I think she’s someone who, generally in life, takes charge. She’s very curious. She’s curious about the world and curious about herself. And then, she’s found herself in this situation in suburbia and it feels very stagnant and sedate, so she’s struggling in isolation and the disconnect of that. When you add the nosy neighbor, to put it lightly, her safety is at risk and her well-being is at risk. There’s a secondary conversation around, “If you’re visible online if your work is related to an online presence, should that impinge on your safety and your sense of security and privacy. Obviously, the answer is no, but that’s the situation that she finds herself in. From the outside, what seemingly looks peaceful and easy and beautiful for all of them, if you scratch at it, you see that everyone’s having immense difficulty with where they’re at in life.

So much goes on in the last episode, from the moment that Evie calls Danny to say she’s in danger, to showing up with a gun, to then running through the woods and having this big confrontation. What are the moments that stand out most for each of you that were most memorable of that whole end sequence, and how things resolved for your characters?

HEUGHAN: It’s actually really rewarding for an actor to get a scene where the climax is that they’re vulnerable, they are sharing, they are being honest, and they’re trying to salvage their relationship. I got to do this great scene with Jess where we were on the Yorkshire moors and my driving was somewhat suspect. We had this fantastic scene where they try to find some truth, or he tries to get to the core of their problem. We begin to hopefully see them rebuild, or at least communicate and work through their problems. Working with Jess in that scene was a highlight for me. It was a big scene for us both, and she’s amazing in it. It was just so great to have a scene partner that gives you so much and is also so encouraging behind the scenes as well.

DE GOUW: Ditto.

HEUGHAN: Despite the driving.

Jessica, what was that like for Becka? Not only is she going through all that, but she’s also learning about so much of it at the same time.

DE GOUW: Danny and Becka have accepted a level of avoidance or silence at that point. Previously, if she suspected something was off, or they felt disconnected, I think she would very much have tackled that, in a very upfront way, but she is a bit complacent. The relationship has evolved in a way where, if they really looked at each other, they’re not feeling safe or happy or fulfilled, even if they’re not aware of it yet. The learning and unlearning is the greatest journey for an actor to get to play with. The cracking open of the character and of a relationship and the consequences of that is a privilege.

Sam Heughan and Jessica De Gouw Are Convinced Danny and Becka Will Work Things Out

“They are still very much in love.”

Do you guys think they would stay together?

DE GOUW: They’d be together.

HEUGHAN: Yeah, I think they’d be together.

DE GOUW: We vouch for them. They can do it. They’ll work it out.

HEUGHAN: Obviously, Becka is probably the one that’s gonna lead it, but she’s gonna encourage him to start again. You’d be very lucky to have her. They’re deeply in love. They love each other so much. I’m rooting for them, and I think the audience is gonna root for them as well.

DE GOUW: That’s the thing, they are still very much in love. Lives are long. If you can accept a partner – the person standing opposite you – for who they are, and want to learn and grow together, then that long life can go be very beautiful.

The Couple Next Door airs on Starz. Check out the trailer: