Duffy’s Boston accent was partly inspired by Ben Affleck and Matt Damon movies, Reacher season 3 star Sonya Cassidy reveals. A new addition to the Reacher cast, Cassidy was previously best-known for her many roles on British television, often in period dramas. But the Bristol, England native took on a whole new challenge for Reacher season 3, playing a determined DEA agent with a distinctive, tough-sounding Boston accent.
Tasked by Reacher producers with mastering one of the trickiest of accents, Cassidy referred to clips of some true Bostonians, including Affleck, Damon and Mark Wahlberg, as well as notorious real-life mobster Whitey Bulger. “I tried to give them Boston,” Cassidy said, explaining in a recent interview why Duffy’s dialog would sound wrong in her own native British accent (via TVLine):
Oh, yeah. Affleck, all the Marky Mark, Spotlight… The Departed…. also lovely old clips from, like, when [Boston area crime boss] Whitey Bulger was caught. Now, that’s pretty heightened, but it was just gorgeous to listen to. I love accents, they are so much more than sounds, they’re like a psychology and a place and a culture, and it really helped inform who Duffy is. Like, none of what Duffy says would sound right in my like, “Oh, helloooo!” British accent and way of being. But they asked for Boston and I tried to give them Boston.
What This Means For Reacher Season 3
Reacher Is Only As Good As His Partners
Reacher season 3 is just like the past two seasons of the show in how it works the Lee Child formula for action-heavy storytelling. As those prior seasons showed, Reacher may be roughly characterized as a lone-wolf, but in fact, he’s a character who works best when he’s partnering with others.
Jack and his new partner Duffy share a lot of screentime in Reacher season 3, and thus far, Cassidy has ably filled her role as Reacher’s main compatriot and verbal sparring partner, thanks in large part to her wholly convincing Boston accent. In her interview remarks, Cassidy explains how an accent helps her hook into a character’s psychology, and indeed, much of Duffy’s toughness and attitude are conveyed through the way she speaks.
Our Take On Cassidy’s Reacher Season 3 Accent
Duffy Is One Of The Season’s Stand-Out Characters
It may come as a surprise to some that Cassidy isn’t from Boston, given how perfectly she nails Duffy’s accent. The Brit is indeed a strong presence on Reacher season 3, as Duffy and Jack work to take down a presumed drug kingpin with ties to a mysterious figure from Reacher’s own past. The will-they-or-won’t-they energy is strong between the characters, but that’s no surprise, considering Reacher’s past dalliances with Roscoe and Karla.
Willia Fitzgerald’s Reacher season 1 character Roscoe is indeed brought to mind when watching Jack and Duffy together. It was perhaps unfortunate that Reacher dropped Roscoe after her memorable season 1 appearance, but Cassidy’s work is making DEA agent Duffy just as formidable as Fitzgerald’s lamentably absent small town cop. It seems Reacher fans can partly thank the team of Affleck and Damon for helping Cassidy bring to life one of season 3’s stand-out characters, and one of the series’ best Reacher allies.
Source: TVLine