There’s nothing a parent wouldn’t do for their children. But just how deep in can you get before you can’t get out?
That’s the intriguing premise behind Echo Valley, a thriller that follows Kate (Julianne Moore), who, amid grieving the loss of her partner and the prospect of losing her farm, is surprised to see her daughter Claire (Sydney Sweeney) on her doorstep.
She is jittery and absent, only there to ask for money to facilitate her drug habit. But when Kate laments that she doesn’t have any, Claire spins. Their fraught relationship is split in two mindsets – Kate wants to mend fences with her daughter, while Claire isn’t able to process the bigger picture, only the dire situation she’s in.
“Kate, like most of us, is not someone you know at first glance and we have a lot of assumptions about who she is and what’s she’s capable of,” Julianne, 64, tells TV WEEK. “She’s under a lot of pressure and we don’t know if she’s capable of handling it. But the audience will be very surprised.”
Claire reveals that she needs the money so her drug dealer boyfriend Jackie (Domhnall Gleeson), a villainous figure with no regard for consequence, can pay their supplier.
“Jackie represents a threat to everyone you care about,” Domhnall, 42, explains.
“Even if Kate and Claire do things that frustrate you as an audience member, Jackie makes the most of those mistakes and their vulnerabilities. But the challenge is to make him a real person and show that he’s putting pressure on these people because he’s under pressure from someone else… and also, that he’s a horrible person!”
When Claire is forced to tell Jackie that she has no money, their argument results in a dead body. Suddenly, she needs her mother more than ever and so ensues a white-knuckle ride to protect each other and find a way through the darkness.
“There are so many people who struggle with addiction so it’s a pertinent story but with the added element of being a thriller,” Julianne says. “Kate loves her daughter and wants to save her but the stakes are really high. So, a lot of what Kate does is morally complicated and very fast; she’s doing it in the moment.”
With a career that spans decades, the Academy Award winner admits she’s surprised that she has the same passion for the job she did when she was starting out. And she hopes it continues to yield interesting stories like this one.
“I think I thought at some point I’d get tired of it,” she says. “But I’m fascinated by relationships and human behaviour, and I like the collative nature of making films. I feel so lucky that this is work that I still derive so much pleasure from.”
Where to watch Echo Valley in Australia:
Echo Valley released on Apple TV+ on June 6, 2025, in Australia.
Stream Echo Valley on Apple TV+ from $12.99/mth, with a 7-day free trial.
Watch the trailer for Echo Valley below:
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