“It was an incredible experience,” Starkey, whose counterpart in the Marissa Stapley book simply runs off with the money before being captured, emphasized, “and you see these two characters start off in a very, very hostile place, and then by the end they’re saying that they don’t regret being with each other still—and they still have this love for each other.”
As the Outer Banks actor noted, “It’s tragic to see him, once that’s finally reached then he’s gone again.”
Still, there were the practicalities to filming Cary’s death Starkey and Taylor-Joy had to contend with. Starkey recalled, “God, filming that day, it was quite intense.”
And considering Cary bleeds out in a wrecked car after being shot by Agent Gates (Mo McRae) during the chase, Taylor-Joy’s mind went elsewhere, admitting, “The first word that came to my mind was like salty, sweaty, and bloody,” to which Starkey added, “and just sticky.”
Though Cary ultimately didn’t make it out of the limited series alive, for Taylor-Joy there is nobody outside of the Queer actor—who caught her attention in the Luca Guadagnino movie—who could have balanced his complicated place in Lucky’s life.