Is Gigi the Villain of The Five Star Weekend? The Show's Creator & Director Weigh in
Gemma Chan's character does things that wouldn't be out of place in a thriller — but "she had nobody to grieve with," explain Bekah Brunstetter and director Minkie Spiro.
Key Takeaways
- Gigi’s affair with Hollis’s husband Matthew and her dishonest friendship with Hollis create the series’ central moral conflict, though Gemma Chan's character is portrayed with emotional complexity.
- Creator Bekah Brunstetter and director Minkie Spiro emphasized making Gigi relatable and three-dimensional, arguing that her actions stem from grief, loneliness, fear, and human imperfection.
- The series frames Gigi’s connection with Hollis as both emotionally warped and sincere, highlighting themes of shared grief, complicated relationships, and the deep bonds women can quickly form with one another.
A lot happens over the course of Peacock's The Five Day Weekend. Between spa treatments, luxe meals, and frolics along the Nantucket shore, Hollis Shaw (Jennifer Garner) and her friends Dru-Ann (Regina Hall), Tatum (Chloë Sevigny), Brooke (D'Arcy Carden) undergo major internal shifts during their time together. But the juiciest drama throughout the series concerns Hollis and the surprise fifth "star" of the weekend: Gigi (Gemma Chan).
How to Watch
All eight episodes of The Five Star Weekend will debut Thursday, July 9, only on Peacock.
From the end of Episode 1, viewers are left to wonder: Will Hollis find out that Gigi was having an affair with her husband?
Without context, Gigi's actions would arguably fit into an unsettling thriller movie:
- She fell in love with a man she knew was married, and
- Befriended Hollis under false pretenses after his death
- Accepted an invitation to the home of the woman whose husband she'd secretly been having an affair with
- Rifled through drawers and stole a photograph of Matthew
- Was planning to write Hollis a confessional letter and leave her to deal with the truth
It's complicated, to say the least! But cast member Gemma Chan plays Gigi with a layered vulnerability that does justice to the storyline Elin Hilderbrand dreamed up in her novel, and she did help Hollis in the horrible first few months after the accident. So is Gigi lowkey a villain, or just well-meaning and messy?
RELATED: Who Plays Gigi on The Five Star Weekend? About Gemma Chan & Her Character
Peacock Blog spoke to two executive producers of the series, creator Bekah Brunstetter and director Minkie Spiro, about why they think Gigi did what she did. Spiro directed Episode 1 (where we learn what Gigi's hiding), Episode 2 (which shows us how she and Matthew met and got together), Episode 5, and the jaw-dropper that is Episode 6 (in which the truth finally comes out).
The Five Star Weekend EPs aimed to make Gigi complex, not "twirling her mustache"
"Something I loved about the book is that the story just treats her with such empathy," Brunstetter told Peacock Blog, adding, "I think that's more interesting than her being a villain. Because at the end of the day, we all do things that are wrong, and sometimes we do them because of our own fears and insecurities, and those fears and insecurities are the things that connect us as human beings."
RELATED: How The Five Star Weekend Is Different Than the Book
"Minkie and I tried really hard — and it meant a lot to Gemma, too — to make sure that [Gigi] wasn't just hopping around twirling her mustache," Brunsetter continued. "And in life, we all find ourselves in absurd situations and do crazy things. That was the fun of writing the show, finding the absurdity while keeping it grounded and emotional."
"It was important to us to make sure that Gemma's character was relatable. That people could understand why she ended up in this situation," Spiro, who also helmed four episodes of Peacock's Emmy-nominated All Her Fault series, said.
"Gigi didn't seek out to do it, and nor did Matthew, but it just happened. This is a universal, not-out-of-the-ordinary thing that happens," Spiro continued, "And I think it was important for Bekah and I to make all of these characters three-dimensional. I believe there's generally not such such thing as a 'bad person.' There's colors to everybody, and I think unfortunately for Gigi, she fell into this situation."
RELATED: Meet the Cast of The Five Star Weekend
RELATED: Who Plays Matthew Shaw? Josh Hamilton's TV and Movie Roles
"It is completely ludicrous what she ended up doing, but there's a part of me that understands why she did it," Spiro added. "She had nobody to grieve with. She lost the love of her life overnight, and she wanted to know more about him, but also be in touch with people that understood him. There is something warped, but understandable about what she did."
Plus — as we see throughout the series, between all five of the main characters — "women connect with each other really quickly and deeply," Brunstetter said. "I think story Elin decided to tell with Gigi is just a dramatization of that. And feels like she wants to be there for Hollis, and she cares about her. That's really truthful and sweet, in a way."
All eight episodes of The Five Star Weekend are streaming on Peacock now.
RELATED: Every Song from The Five Star Weekend - Let the Pajama Dance Party Begin
