A surefire way to shepherd a New York Times bestselling novel into an adored adaptation is to cast actors who fit the bill so accurately that readers who thumb through the novel a second time (or even a first) are only able to envision the faces of those who brought the beloved characters to life.
As one of the countless readers who got swept up in author Bonnie Garmus’ dazzling tale about a brilliant chemist-turned-host-of-a-cooking-show caught up in the 1950s patriarchy, I can tell you Apple TV Plus stuck the landing with the cast of Lessons in Chemistry.
Brie Larson has top billing as the no-nonsense, whip-smart chemist Elizabeth Zott, and alongside her is an ensemble cast of both familiar and fresh faces. This story is about Elizabeth, but the people around her are the ones who make life both magical and miserable.
Lessons in Chemistry will premiere its first two episodes on Friday, October 13. The eight-episode limited series will conclude on Friday, November 24. Here’s a brief description of who you can expect to see along the way.
Brie Larson as Elizabeth Zott
Elizabeth Zott is something of an anomaly, for better or for worse. It’s not that she doesn’t care what people think of her, it’s that she doesn’t understand why anything other than her academic work is being discussed in the first place. Who cares that she’s in a relationship with the brilliant, award-winning chemist Calvin Evans? Who cares that they bypass marriage to get to the other important life milestones? Why is any of this a big deal? This, my friends, is why Elizabeth Zott — research chemist at Hastings Research Institute and host of the cooking show Supper at Six — is such a relatable character.
Who better to bring the fictional character to life than Academy Award-winning actress and Marvel superstar Brie Larson? As someone who’s battled the negative opinions of millions of men deeming her unlikeable for years, there’s quite literally no one more equipped to do Elizabeth justice than her.
Lewis Pullman as Calvin Evans
Oh, Calvin Evans. It shouldn’t be revolutionary for a man to believe in a woman’s worth, her intelligence, and her right to equality, but unfortunately, such ideology was hard to come by in the 1950s. When he meets Elizabeth at Hastings Research Institute, the — excuse me for this — chemistry between him and Elizabeth is palpable. Lessons in Chemistry is not a romance, but their relationship will have you believing in love again. Those who’ve read the novel know what to expect, but for those who haven’t… let’s just say it’d be wise to keep some tissues handy.
Calvin is played by American actor Lewis Pullman, who many will recognize from Top Gun: Maverick and Prime Video’s Outer Range.
Aja Naomi King as Harriet Sloane
Harriet Sloane is such a vital character in Elizabeth’s journey. She starts out as just the next-door neighbor willing to lend a helping hand to first-time mother and sleep-deprived zombie Elizabeth, but by the end, she becomes family. She’s there for Elizabeth when no one else is, and her words of advice are what Elizabeth clings to in times of need. Played by How to Get Away with Murder alum Aja Naomi King, Harriet Sloane’s live-action debut reinvents the character a bit, making her much younger and prettier, as well as including a storyline that addresses the national conversation around civil rights in America, something that wasn’t present in the novel.
Madeline (Mad) Zott
Because Madeline — or Mad for short — is so young the name of the actress who plays her is not actually public information. In Lessons In Chemistry, Mad is brilliant like her mother. Her reading comprehension at three years old surpasses those three times her age. By the age of six, she’s already reading Charles Dickens. Mad is also responsible for her mother’s foray into the entertainment industry. After noticing her daughter’s lunch food has wound up in the stomachs of other children at school, Elizabeth, who has a passion for cooking, confronts the father of the girl who’s been eating a majority of Mad’s food. Here she encounters Walter Pine, the TV producer who changes Elizabeth’s life forever with a proposal to host the soon-to-be hit cooking show Supper at Six.
Kevin Sussman as Walter Pine
Walter Pine starts out as your average 1950s man, blissfully unaware that not only can a woman be gorgeous and captivating, but also brilliant. Upon meeting Elizabeth, Walter — who is a producer at KCTV — immediately understands that Elizabeth is unique. As such, he offers her a hosting gig on Supper at Six, and because Elizabeth needs the money, she accepts. The character is played by the Big Bang Theory’s Kevin Sussman, whose funny bone allows him to perfectly capture Walter’s frantic personality and charming anxiety.
Stephanie Koenig as Fran Frask
The thing about Fran Frask is that she’s not supposed to be likable. In fact, she’s downright detestable. As a secretary at Hastings Research Institute, Fran begins her story stuck firmly in the mindset of “if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.” To her, Elizabeth is insufferable, a stain on womanhood, and completely in over her head thinking she has any right to make academic contributions to the scientific community. The character will be played by Stephanie Koenig, most recently known for The Flight Attendant and The Offer, and before that, Swedish Dicks.
Patrick Walker as Wakely
Reverend Wakely has an unsuspecting connection to Elizabeth Zott that neither fully comprehends until the end of the series. As a former classmate of Calvin’s, Wakely eventually comes into contact with Mad Zott amid the young girl’s quest to know more about her father. Their findings lead to a revolutionary family discovery, but how we get there is anything but a throughline. Wakely is played by American actor Patrick Walker, known for The Resident, Gaslit, and The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey.
Thomas Mann as Boryweitz
Good ol’ Boryweitz. Like a puppy dog lost at sea, Boryweitz has hardly any clue what he’s doing at Hastings Research Institute, which explains why he constantly comes to Elizabeth for help. However, when so-called help turns into plagiarism, it becomes hard to root for Boryweitz any longer. The character is played by American actor Thomas Mann – known for starring alongside Brie Larson in Kong: Skull Island, as well as appearing in Project X, and Me and Earl and the Dying Girl.
Derek Cecil as Dr. Robert Donatti
Need someone to hate? Look no further than Dr. Robert Donatti, Elizabeth’s boss at Hastings Research Institute. Donatti has a perverse infatuation with Elizebeth and is hellbent on the belief that a woman’s place is nowhere near the chemistry lab; as such, he pursues a vendetta against Elizabeth with a ruthless passion, one that will have viewers clenching their fists in anger. The antagonistic character is played by House of Cards alum Derk Cecil, whom many will also recall from the HBO series The Outsider, based on the popular Stephen King novel of the same name.
Rainn Wilson as Phil Lebensmal
I take it back. If you want someone to hate, forget Donatti, look no further than KCTV’s executive producer Phil Lebensmal. Despite Elizabeth making waves across the nation with Supper at Six, Lebensmal can’t stand to see a woman do anything other than puppet scripted words, smile, and present a perfectly chipper persona. The fact that Elizabeth goes against the grain grates Lebensmal to no end. Just know you, good viewer, that the scene in the trailer in which Elizabeth tells Lebensmal “Why do you assume his day was longer than hers?” is part of a delectable scene that will have you either gasping or shouting at the TV screen in excitement. Just wait.
Lebensmal is played by none other than Rainn Wilson – otherwise lovingly known as Dwight from The Office.
Beau Bridges as Wilson
It’s hard to talk about Wilson without giving much away. All you really need to know is that he’s intrinsically connected to Calvin’s storyline as an orphan at All Saints Home for Boys in Sioux City, which Mad is determined to dig up. The answers that are uncovered paint a whole new picture of Calvin’s upbringing and shape the future of Elizabeth and Mad’s life. Wilson is played by Emmy Award-winning actor Beau Bridges, known for The Second Civil War and Without Warning: The James Brady Story, among many others.
Six-Thirty
Let’s all just take a moment here to give some pats on the head to Six-Thirty. Adopted by Elizabeth and Calvin near the beginning of their relationship, this seemingly ordinary dog is anything but. In the novel, we periodically view the world through his eyes, and because Elizabeth is a genius she passes on that intelligence to Six-Thirty. She reads books to him the way she would read to Mad, and by the end of the novel, this good boy knows a total of 981 words. That means he knows when and how to covertly insert himself into a situation to steer it in one direction or another. As you can imagine, this comes into play on more than one occasion. His name — in case you were wondering — is derived from the very moment of the day in which Elizabeth and Calvin adopted him into the family. Without Six-Thirty, there would be no Lessons in Chemistry.
