Asher Keddie spills all on Strife and her plans to return to Offspring

Asher Keddie tells Yahoo Australia all about Strife, her new series on Binge, and whether she'd be keen to return to Offspring.

Video transcript

MARNIE DIXIT: Congratulations on the show.

ASHER KEDDIE: Thanks.

MARNIE DIXIT: It's so good. It's so fun. I know last night, someone on the panel mentioned that Mia can be a bit divisive. I know that Mia and Evelyn are not the same person. How did it feel for you to take on the character?

ASHER KEDDIE: It felt joyous, just fantastic. I've enjoyed-- I've enjoyed every moment of the process, from developing who the character would be, become, and the ensemble, and-- yeah, I really have enjoyed all of it. And it's been challenging in the ways that I wanted it to be, too. Yeah.

And polarization is great, by the way. That's what I reckon. I'm all for it. I think-- I think we can't keep igniting conversation that needs to happen, unless there is some kind of polarization.

Otherwise, we're just-- there's no rub there. You know? So that's what I like about the show, a lot, is that it offers that. And cracks open discussion that we clearly all want to have. Yeah.

MARNIE DIXIT: Absolutely. And when I was watching it, thinking back to 2012, when I was a young journo, I was like, oh, yes. This feels very real.

ASHER KEDDIE: Yes, right.

MARNIE DIXIT: As we said, Evelyn is not Mia. But were there any parts of Mia that you were like, oh, we need to include this in the character. Or did you want to steer clear?

ASHER KEDDIE: Well, there were no-- no, it's not that I wanted to steer clear of it. We just made a conscious choice for it to be a fictional character and story, as opposed to a biopic. But of course, there were just so many stories that she had, and so many things that she experienced that she wanted to share. And very generously did.

But then opened up for the other creatives on the project, myself and Jodi and Bruna and Sarah, to share our experiences and our stories as well. So it really-- the show has become a combination of all our experiences, and all the things we want to discuss and be honest about, actually. To tell the truth about, whether they're public or private.

Because there's such-- as you know, you've seen the show. This is such a public and private face to Evelyn. But not only her, but to everyone. We all have that. We all have that, and I like seeing that in drama.

MARNIE DIXIT: Yeah, absolutely. And it was great to see so many women involved as well.

ASHER KEDDIE: Yeah.

MARNIE DIXIT: So that must have been fab--

ASHER KEDDIE: Oh, yeah. Fantastic.

MARNIE DIXIT: Being back behind the scenes.

ASHER KEDDIE: Yeah, yeah.

MARNIE DIXIT: You've worked with so many incredible people over the years, of course. Was it a bit fun to work with Kylie as well, when she--

ASHER KEDDIE: Yeah, it was wonderful to work with Kylie. She's great. She's such-- she's got such a wonderful energy, and she's so-- she's so front footed and she's so bright. She's got such a great intellect. And she is very instinctive as well, which makes her a fantastic actress.

And I just wanted to-- I just really wanted to do that with her. So I asked, and she said yes. And I was like, yes. We had a great time shooting that. Did you see that episode yet?

MARNIE DIXIT: I haven't seen that yet.

ASHER KEDDIE: Oh.

MARNIE DIXIT: Yeah, no. I'm so excited to watch it. Were there any other big Aussie people, like stars that you wanted to get on the show? Speaking of how you--

ASHER KEDDIE: Matt Day. Straight off the bat, that was who I wanted to play opposite as my ex-partner in the show. I knew he was right from the moment we started developing the scripts. I just-- I had met Matt and worked with him very briefly on the birth of Cleo, "Paper Giants" all those years ago.

And I just-- I remembered our exchanges were kind of really robust. And I just thought, God, he's so smart, and he's so funny. He made me laugh a lot. And he had this wonderful-- he has the most incredible comic timing.

He's so great. And I thought, that's who it is. I just don't-- I just had a feeling about it. And so I was thrilled when he said yes. I think he's really good in the show.

MARNIE DIXIT: Yeah, absolutely. You mentioned "Paper Giants" as well. So you played Ita Buttrose. Now you played Mia. How did the two experiences-- were they similar? Did they differ in playing two women who have--

ASHER KEDDIE: Yeah, they're similar in the sense that they're both leaders and trailblazers, you know. And it's a very-- they're very exciting characters to play. And there's a great challenge in playing someone like that is a leader in that way, and that is making way for a younger generation to come through and excel as well.

That's very-- it's challenging to navigate that kind of role, but I seem to really like it. And so there are similarities in that way. Yeah.

MARNIE DIXIT: Yeah. And is there anything from behind the scenes, when you're working on the show? Like a fun fact or something that fans might not expect when they watch it, now that it's available to stream?

ASHER KEDDIE: Oh, goodness. I mean, there's so many fun things that happened in this shoot. I can't tell you. I don't even know if I can single one out. It really was a joyous shoot. There was so much laughter, so much collaboration.

And a lot of comfort in knowing that we were all on the same page, wanting to tell the same story. There was enough creative rub between us all for it to sort of elevate and be the best that it could be. But there was also a shared taste in the kind of drama we wanted to make. We had so much fun. I don't know if I can single out a fun fact for you.

MARNIE DIXIT: That's OK. And you are one of Australia's favorite actresses. People still talk about "Offspring" all the time. Do you have any funny fan encounters that you can remember over the years?

ASHER KEDDIE: Fan encounters?

MARNIE DIXIT: Yeah.

ASHER KEDDIE: Oh, gosh. Where-- which one would you like me to begin with?

MARNIE DIXIT: Anything that stands out.

ASHER KEDDIE: So many. I have had-- look, I have had-- we were just talking about this storyline earlier, when Patrick passed away, which seemed to create an extreme reaction in the Australian public when that happened. I have had one encounter in particular, in a supermarket. Or I think it was a chemist, actually. A pharmacy.

Someone came up to me and was truly, truly angry and distraught that we had done that. And clearly, thought she was talking to Nina or some-- not me. I don't know. She was so confused, the poor thing. And she just was so devastated. And so I think I spent like 20 minutes in that pharmacy that day, trying to comfort her and explain why we chose to do what we do. Because it was really meaningful to her, and it had really rocked her world.

So when drama has that kind of impact, and it connects on that level, no matter whether it's a comedy like "Strife" is, or it's something that involves loss or grief, if an audience has a reaction-- maybe has a reaction like that, I always appreciate it. Because I think, well, we've connected with you and made you feel something. And that's why we do it, you know.

MARNIE DIXIT: Yeah. People were talking about it in the office today. It really hit them.

ASHER KEDDIE: Yeah, yeah.

MARNIE DIXIT: And I know that obviously, with "Offspring," that might not be the case. But are there any of your projects that you'd love to revisit in any way?

ASHER KEDDIE: No. No, I don't think so. I really love all the projects that I've done. There's not one that I can identify as something I hadn't wanted to do. So no, I don't think-- because I was happy to leave them where they are.

Projects come to a natural end, whether they're a one-off contained series of six episodes or whatever it might be, or whether you feel like there's life for a second series with an ensemble of characters. Certainly, there was for "Offspring," for seven series. But we left it where we wanted to leave it, and that felt right. No, I don't think so.

MARNIE DIXIT: Any dream roles?

ASHER KEDDIE: Yeah, I've got-- well, not roles as such, but dream-- I've got a-- there's a couple of dream projects that I could probably talk to you about next year.

MARNIE DIXIT: Great.

ASHER KEDDIE: They're cooking.

MARNIE DIXIT: Excellent.

ASHER KEDDIE: Yeah, yeah.

MARNIE DIXIT: Well, thank you so much for your time. And congratulations again.

ASHER KEDDIE: Cheers.