The Boroughs is now streaming on Netflix, and just as you’re starting your binge of the new series—which is executive produced by Stranger Things creators the Duffer Brothers—you get a big dose of nostalgia. The opening scenes feature Dee Wallace, the star of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, battling a mysterious home invader. It’s a clever way to both set up The Boroughs‘ sci-fi mystery and wink at genre-savvy members of the audience.
In a new interview with Deadline, The Boroughs creators Jeffrey Addiss and Will Matthews explained their thought process behind the sequence. For context, at the start of the first episode, Wallace’s character, Grace, is living in the home that Sam (Alfred Molina) later moves into as The Boroughs gets going.
“There’s always a story reason for everything,” Addiss explained. “We knew we needed Grace. We wanted to open with a scare. We knew we wanted to set up some story point things. And we knew we wanted to explain why this house was open, because we wanted that idea that Sam’s moving into a haunted house so that when he opens the door, you go, ‘No, no, no, no! Oh no, it’s that house.'”
The casting came next, and there was no better choice than the cult-beloved star of not just E.T. but also The Hills Have Eyes, The Howling, Cujo, and Critters. “Then once you do that and you look at it, you go, ‘Well, Dee Wallace would be perfect for this part,’ and she was fantastic for the part. It’s an added bonus. But we needed that character. We needed that scene, and we needed a great actress, and Dee Wallace is a great actress, so it wasn’t a stunt, but it could become a fun nod.”
Added Matthews, “We needed someone that you cared about immediately because there’s not a lot of time to get to know the character, and you have to care when she dies. So part of that is just her face, her manner, her ability to communicate warmth. You just love her right away. Even if you don’t remember that you remember her from E.T., you love her right away.”
The Boroughs is now streaming on Netflix.
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