Linda Cardellini’s Mysterious Motives In HBO’s Dark 7-Part Series Explained By Creator & Star

Linda Cardellini opened up to ScreenRant about her mysterious character, Carol, in the new HBO series DTF St. Louis.

The story centers on the broken relationship between Carol and Floyd (David Harbour), whose lives are upended when Clark (Jason Bateman) enters the scene. The two men want to spice up their respective relationships, but when Floyd dies under mysterious circumstances, Clark becomes a suspect, and Carol is forced to reckon with the secret affair she had with him.

In an interview with ScreenRant's Liam Crowley, DTF St. Louis creator Steven Conrad and Cardellini discussed Carol's mysterious motivations and how the investigators are trying to solve the case of Floyd's death. When she was preparing to play someone like Carol, Freaks and Geeks star Cardellini recognized that the character built up metaphorical walls to protect herself.

"She is much more guarded," the actor explained, which is at odds with Floyd and Clark, who don't create boundaries for themselves. Carol is shouldering a lot of the burden and responsibilities going back to her childhood.

Despite being an adult with a more mature life now, Carol is still forced into a lifestyle of "carrying this responsibility without any help." When she's with her husband, Floyd, she feels "worn out." However, when she's with Clark, she starts feeling like "there's this hope for someone else."

My way into her was that she's got these boundaries and these walls up that these guys don't seem to have, necessarily, so she is much more guarded. There's a pain that she doesn't want to tap into. And she just has had a lot of responsibility, since she was very, very young. And the idea that she still has to carry this responsibility without any help, it seems like, to her, because he sort of keeps getting them into these jackpots — wears her out, in a lot of ways. So when she's with him, she's kind of worn out. And when she's with Clark, she sort of feels like there's this hope for something else.

The "duality" between these two relationships sets up the strong dynamics and motivations that have been unfolding in the first two episodes of DTF St. Louis. Despite the affair, Cardellini truly believes that Carol "deeply loves" Floyd. That love stems from the strong friendship that their relationship was built on years ago. The love and care she has for her family is stronger than she's letting on, especially when the series first begins.

So there's this duality, as you were saying before, with the two relationships. But at the same time, I think you come to learn that what she's doing is sort of out of love for the relationship she does have, with Floyd. And, she truly deeply loves him. I think it is a story about friendship. It's their friendship, but it's also her friendship with him. And she cares about her family, more than I think it's able to let on in the very beginning.

As DTF St. Louis season 1, which has an 86% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes and has become a streaming hit, continues to air in the coming weeks, viewers will get the chance to see more of the mysterious side to Carol. At first, the focus was mostly centered on Clark and Floyd's point of view, but that will all start to change as the truth is revealed.

Speaking of the truth, Donoghue Homer and Jodie Plumb are the investigators overseeing the aftermath of Floyd's death, but they're approaching the situation very differently.

According to Conrad, Donoghue's mind is "starting to open" because Jodie has brought a fresh perspective to the investigation. She's calling out her work partner for "looking at this like a 75-year-old man," and the answers are obvious, when her lived experience as a 25-year-old woman tells her that "none of this is what you think."

Even though it doesn't feel like it, because it's not a direct delivery system, it's all being relived, shared again, looked at differently, because Richard Jenkins' character is starting to open his mind. His younger colleague, played by Joy Sunday, is saying, "You're wrong. You're looking at this like a 75-year-old man." I'm telling you as a 25-year-old woman, none of this is what you think.

Actor Richard Jenkins, who plays the elder detective, is a "beautiful actor," according to Conrad, because he has the "capacity to change." The way that Jenkins is approaching the character might lead audiences to realize that he could change his ways and admit he was wrong about his approach.

Richard's such a beautiful actor because he inherently has the capacity to change. You're sort of cheering for this inner sounder—he could surprise himself and go, "F--k, I was wrong."

Donoghue comes at this as someone who's "only ever engaged the suburbs from across the street" and "made false assumptions" about other people's motivations. At this point, though, it's not clear whether Donoghue is right or wrong in his assessment. However, his ability to adapt, thanks to Jodie, means he's starting to realize that the people he's investigating, including Carol, are "just as dark as anybody in the biggest city anywhere."

Whether he's wrong or not remains to be seen, but his mind is being opened by the notion that no one's normal, they just look like that from across the street. And he's an urban guy. He's only ever engaged the suburbs from across the street, made false assumptions about what people's drives are like behind those doors, and is learning that they are just as dark as anybody in the biggest city anywhere. So those episodes where a little more happens than you thought, they're really connected to the truth, and we do it in 5, 6, and 7, too, until the show gets to the truth.

Conrad also teased that a lot more questions would be answered in the final three episodes of the season.

DTF St. Louis airs Sundays at 9 p.m. EDT on HBO.