Anna Paquin had to study up on The Affair before joining show’s final season

Actress Anna Paquin cleared her schedule so she could binge watch The Affair before joining the cast for the show’s final season.
The former True Blood star appears as Joanie, the daughter of Dominic West and Ruth Wilson’s characters, in season four of the mystery drama, which picks up 20 years after the previous season left off – and the role required the 36 year old to quickly become familiar with the show’s various plot lines and characters.
“I had seen and loved the first season, but I rarely have time to keep up with TV shows so I hadn’t seen the subsequent seasons,” she tells Entertainment Weekly. “I did a full marathon of all the episodes when I was hired to make sure I fully understood the world of the show. It was helpful to get to know my onscreen parents as their characters and learn about Joanie’s childhood.”
Though Wilson and co-star Joshua Jackson departed the show, originals stars West and Maura Tierney will be back to wrap up the story.
Paquin jumped at the chance to work with showrunner Sarah Treem on the production, admitting she admires the way she portrays women onscreen.
“Sarah was pretty much the reason I wanted to do the show,” she adds. “She’s a phenomenal talent. I mean, it’s an amazing cast and everyone else behind the camera who create this show are wonderful. TV making is very much a team sport, but Sarah is the rock star. The way she portrays women as complex, flawed, intelligent humans who exist in moral shades of grey – the way men have always been allowed to – was very exciting to me as a performer.”
The Oscar winner also enjoyed being a part of Treem’s directorial debut.
“It was also such an honour to work on her debut as a director in the series finale,” she shares. “She’s a brilliant director.”