Kya Clark lives alone outside the small town of Barkley Cove in North Carolina, USA.

For several years, the villagers have called her the "swamp girl" and spread rumors about her.

When one of the town's popular soccer players is found dead near her home, she is the first to stand accused.

- It is mainly a survival story about a girl who grows up in a hostile environment, but it is also a murder mystery and a love story, says Daisy Edgar-Jones to Kulturnyheterna.

The relatively new star on the Hollywood firmament says she felt a certain responsibility in taking on the wildly popular book written by Delia Owens.

- It's probably always like that when you take on a character that people already love and have an image of.

Sometimes I would come to the set and think, "Okay, that was one of the iconic scenes in the book," and feel even more pressure.

Edgar-Jones: It's okay to contradict yourself sometimes

Kya grows up in a house where her family has left and she has to support herself.

After many years of being ostracized by the residents of Barkley Cove, she develops a caution but also a strong drive for self-preservation.

- That's what I love about the character, that she can't really be put in a compartment - that she's multifaceted.

I liked it because we are all complicated, we don't have to be just one thing.

We can contradict ourselves sometimes, says Daisy Edgar-Jones.

Breakthrough with "Normal People"

Daisy Edgar-Jones got her big break in the series Normal People, which is based on Sally Rooney's best-selling novel.

In 2020, the twelve-part series following Marianne and Connell and their relationship became hugely popular.

- It was so strange, people told me the series was great but I didn't experience any of it.

It felt surreal but was so intertwined with the pandemic that it is difficult to separate it, she says.

Like Kya, Marianne is a cautious character at times.

And having now played several cautious characters, Edgar-Jones doesn't want to be stuck in a box.

- The actors I admire most are those who can shift between different types of roles.

The characters I have played so far have all had different characteristics, but now I am very keen to play someone who is very different from me.