Lucy Lawless

OF ‘MY LIFE IS MURDER’ ON ACORN TV

Was the move of “My Life Is Murder” from Australia to Auckland, New Zealand, for Season 2 a product of the pandemic?

Yes, and a product of me wanting to show off my hometown. Part of the promise to the audience is that we will take you somewhere beautiful. You know, drop you into a new environment and we’ll solve crimes together. And I have always wanted to, A, play someone like myself and B, show people my hometown. I’m so in love with it and I think it’s just beautiful and I think this is the right show because the city is a character in our show. It’s a delightful place.

Among the guest stars this season is William Shatner. How did you like working with him?

Ah, he’s a delight. He’s super quirky and unapologetic. He’s a little bit like a male Alexa and he’s really, really adventurous – you know, creatively adventurous and adventurous in his real life and vital. I just heard he’s swimming with sharks for Shark Week, so that’s Bill, that does not surprise me a bit. He’s 90 and I cannot believe he’s 90.

What kind of character does he play on your show?

A flirty one, definitely. Nothing new (laughs).

How much room do you have for improv within scenes?

You can’t mess around with the scenes too much because a murder has to – you have to lay out the close-up and the audience could – could – figure it out for themselves if they’re observant enough. That’s part of the deal. You know, you’re not throwing the MacGuffin at the end ... . Whatever, the fans have to have all the pieces available to figure it out themselves. And to do that in 45 minutes and to throw them all the personal story and bread-baking and stuff is quite tricky. You know, you have to pare it right down to make it satisfying and doable and just to honor your audience. We have a very, very strict covenant with our audience of what they can expect every week and we promise that to them and we make sure we deliver.