In some of the most iconic roles on television, Kate Walsh has branded herself an actor who can take any character and make them unmissable.
From the complicated surgeon Addison Montgomery in Grey’s Anatomy (and then Private Practice), who started out as a villain but became a hero, to the brilliantly twisted Handler pulling strings across the Umbrella Academy universe or as the boss who is suddenly forced to juggle motherhood with work in Emily In Paris, she’s captured fans in a wide range of roles.
But as layered as any of those characters have been, none comes close to what she’s about to reveal in the Australian comedy, Optics.
“I think she’s probably a sociopath!” Kate laughs when asked to explain Hannah Halston, a successful entrepreneur and chronic workplace bully who arrives at PR firm Fritz and Randall in desperate need of an image makeover after yet another “incident” at work.
“But I love her so much and this was probably the funniest, easiest thing I’ve ever done.”
With zero self-awareness, tantrums thrown at the slightest provocation and a razor-sharp tongue, Hannah is a textbook office nightmare who steamrolls her way through every encounter and might just prove to be too much for rising spin doctors Greta and Nicole (series creators and stars Vic Zerbst and Jenna Owen) whose ongoing job is rescuing the reputations of their unhinged clients.
Seemingly determined to wreck her own chances of redemption, Hannah is the last person you’d want to hang out with in real life, but was a dream for Kate who relocated to Australia after meeting her now-fiancé, Perth farmer Andrew Nixon, while on a cruise to Antarctica in 2020.
“Working with Jenna and Vic and everyone else was so great,” Kate, 57, tells TV WEEK.
“We just had a great time and the girls are just so talented and every single cast member is just so good… I think this will be an iconic office comedy, it’s very, very good!”
And just the start of an ongoing relationship, Kate reveals, with the three discussing another project for the new year.
“We’re currently developing a show that hopefully will shoot here in Western Australia,” she says. “I’m excited!”
It all adds up to a huge change of pace for the California-born actor who still commutes to the US for work and is in constant contact with friends and family – particularly since the devastating fires which recently swept through her old home city.
“The last place I lived there was in Malibu and it’s gone now,” Kate says. “I have very good friends who have lost their homes and it’s just… it’s just devastating.
“A lot of people are struggling, but they are an incredible community, they will rebuild.”
In the meantime, a few comic characters like Hannah could help put a much-needed smile on peoples’ faces, she agrees.
“I’ve got [American] friends who are comedians and we send each other funny stuff on The ‘Gram [Instagram], DM’ing each other, it’s like ‘OK, let’s laugh now’,” she says. “And with Optics and Hannah, I was saying to someone recently it’s the one place where you can really be wildly inappropriate and irreverent (and) say all of things that you’re not supposed to say.
“Just to be so shockingly awful is delightful.”
Optics airs Wednesday, 8.30pm on ABC
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