Kate Mara is ‘A Teacher’ in trouble in new FX on Hulu drama

A Teacher, Streaming Tuesday, FX on Hulu

WHAT CAN HAPPEN WHEN AN EDUCATOR CROSSES THE LINE WITH A STUDENT?

Possible answers are supplied by “A Teacher,” a limited FX on Hulu drama series that begins streaming Tuesday, Nov. 10. Also an executive producer of the project, Kate Mara has the title role as Claire Wilson, who risks her new job, her family life and everything else by getting romantically involved with Eric Walker (played by Nick Robinson, of the movie “Love, Simon”), a senior in her high school English classes in Texas ... where such a relationship is illegal. Fellow executive producer Hannah Fidell, expanding upon her same-named 2013 independent film, directed the majority of the 10 episodes and wrote or co-wrote many of them.

“I was really interested in exploring consent and manipulation and victimhood,” Fidell explains, “and what that means in a narrative that I think that our culture is fairly obsessed with. What I was really curious about was what happens after. What are the consequences for the student especially, but for both of them? Do they both have to live with a scarlet letter for the rest of their lives? And how does victimhood present itself differently for a male victim as opposed to a female victim?”

Mara’s youthful look helps make the affair depicted by “A Teacher” that much more plausible. “In high school,” the actress recalls, “my favorite teacher was ... at the time, I thought she was way older than me, but she was probably 25 or something, which is much younger than I am now. As a student, that was someone I really looked up to, and who had a lot of control.

“And so, when playing Claire, I wanted to make sure that she did seem young. Claire’s behavior is what is very interesting to me in this character and in this story. Just because she looks young, and maybe you wouldn’t think twice if you saw her with Eric walking down the street, that doesn’t justify the fact that she is abusing her power. That was definitely something that Hannah and I talked about a lot.”

Also featuring Ashley Zukerman (“Succession”) as Claire’s husband and Rya Kihlstedt (“Love in the Time of Corona”) as Eric’s mother, “A Teacher” unfolds in very digestible half-hour segments.

“What is so exciting for me, being able to do it as a TV show,” Fidell says, “is to have that time to really explore the how and the why and the effects and the consequences on both characters. It’s incredibly rewarding to be able to continue to work through this subject matter, and also just to explore different facets of the story that I wasn’t able to on an Indie, lowbudget scale.”