The series, which is directed by Susanne Bier and produced by Nicole Kidman’s Blossom Films, is as picturesque as it is spiky, with snide characters who seem perpetually torn between their love and hate for one another. Hewson plays Amelia, who’s engaged to Benji, the son of a very wealthy, very successful author, Greer (Nicole Kidman), and the perpetually stoned DILF, Tag (Liev Schreiber). Greer, who is never seen without perfectly coiffed strawberry blonde hair or a full face of makeup, is what you'd get if a trad wife and girlboss transmuted to create the ultimate white feminist hybrid. Amelia couldn’t be more different; she walks around in tracksuits and eats carbs in the lead-up to her wedding. Dakota Fanning (also one of Hewson’s best friends) plays Benji’s sister-in-law and Greer’s mini-me, Abby, while Meghann Fahy is Amelia’s content creator best friend, Merritt. The series revolves around a sudden death that happens on the eve of the wedding, with plenty of parallel plot lines that unravel to reveal each character as (almost) equally fucked up. “I got the first three episodes and then I was just like: I need to know. It was just a really, really good cliffhanger,” Hewson says of why she was drawn to the show. “I think I emailed Susanne and was like, ‘You have to give me this job because I need to know who did it.’”

Growing up, acting wasn’t necessarily a given. The second daughter of activist and businesswoman Ali Hewson and musician Paul Hewson (aka Bono), Memphis Eve Sunnyday Iris Hewson grew up surrounded by music, living something of a minor Irish riff off Hannah Montana. When the family wasn’t on tour with U2, they lived in the small seaside village of Killiney in Dublin, where her school was two minutes down the road and all her friends lived within walking distance of each other. “We would walk to guitar practice after school and then we would go buy chocolate and crisps and then walk home and, you know, it was just a very safe neighbourhood,” Hewson remembers fondly. But it also provided her a necessary point of contrast to the other part of her life. Unlike other nepo babies who grew up entirely in the showbusiness bubble, Hewson and her three siblings were given some semblance of normalcy, and thus, an ability to identify an eejit (Irish for ‘dickhead’). “I have a good sense of bullshit,” Hewson tells me, each word said slowly, deliberately. “Being around so many people who are just full of it, and being a small kid, you just pick up on things.” But she’s also better for it. “Chris Nolan once said something like, actors are human lie detectors,” she says. “And I feel that my survival skills of understanding the humans around me has helped me become a better actor.”

When we speak, Hewson is in the middle of a rare break in filming, coming off the back of a year which saw her film multiple projects at once. “It’s so nice; I feel, like, alive,” she laughs of the relief at having time to enjoy the simple things, like settling into her new home in Los Angeles. “I get up, go to the gym, I might meet a friend for lunch, maybe I have a meeting, maybe I read a book. It’s like a whole new world.” At the end of 2023, following the SAG-AFTRA strike, Hewson went straight into production for the second season of Bad Sisters, but also had to finish shooting The Perfect Couple, which had been halted by the strike. At one point, she was filming scenes for both shows on the same day. “One day they were so concerned about traffic that they literally helicoptered me from one to the other. It was so embarrassing. I was texting Dakota and Jack [Reynor] from the helicopter and they were like, ‘We can see you!’ They rushed me into hair and makeup like I was about to save some lives.”

To those who have seen Bad Sisters, she might as well have been. The first season of the AppleTV+ show, following four women who plan to off their other sister’s abusive husband, was the runaway hit of 2022. Created by Sharon Horgan, the Irish dark comedy went on to win a Peabody Award and the 2023 BAFTA for Best Drama Series. When I ask if we have anything to worry about with the second season, Hewson unambiguously tells me, “No, not in my opinion. The writing is banging and then we also have Fiona Shaw, which is like,” she says, pausing to bring her hands to her mouth, “chef’s kiss. I mean, you’re just gonna love it.” The only plot hint she gives is: “There’s a lot of bodily functions in season two for me.” Hewson’s character was completely different from any of the roles she’d been sent prior to doing the series, but felt innately familiar to her. “People will say to us, ‘People were just born for their parts, weren’t they?’” she says. “When I started acting, I had an instinct that I would be good at playing the Becka type. But I never, ever, ever read anything like that. And I think it took Sharon being Irish and it coming from our perspective, our side of the world, for her to put that kind of a character on the page.” She says there’s also a kismet element to the whole thing. “So many things have to match up for you to get that part. And I don’t know, I feel like I was meant for it.”

After working on predominantly male sets, Bad Sisters wasn’t just a career highlight, but a personal revelation for Hewson, who became extremely close with her castmates. “We’ve done two years now and it’s been the best experience I’ve had with a cast, without a doubt,” she says emphatically. “Just learning from these women, getting so close. They’ve helped me so much in my life with relationships. They’re a little bit older than me, so they have given me so much wisdom and I feel so cared for by them. It’s completely changed how I see other actresses. Now when I see other actresses at events or whatever, I want to be best friends with them. I don’t want to talk to the actors; I want to talk to the girls because I’ve had such a great experience. Had I not really worked with other women, I never would have known the power of that. And it’s such a powerful thing. We’re told that we’re not going to get along, and sometimes personalities clash – fine. But actually, it’s just society’s way of being like, divide and conquer. Because they know once we join forces, they can’t defeat us.”

Fighting words from a woman who’s easy to rally behind.

The Perfect Couple is streaming now on Netflix. Bad Sister season two premieres on Apple TV+ November 13.