13 Reasons Why is not your typical teen drama. And Kate Walsh is not your typical mom in the atypical 13 Reasons Why.
Netflix's latest offering follows the tale of Hannah Baker (Katherine Langford), a high schooler who kills herself with no explanation, devastating her parents (played by Walsh and Smash's Brian D'Arcy James). But, naturally there's a twist, and Hannah left 13 reasons why she killed herself on 13 tapes for her peers in high school to discover. Each episode of the series is a tape explaining how the other students and their actions affected Hannah. To get into the role of grieving mother, Walsh dove right in.
"I spoke to two parents that had a child that died by suicide and I spoke to a psychiatrist, who deals with family therapists, but particularly with families that lost someone in the family to suicide, so it was really helpful to talk to people from both areas and to get as specific as I could," Walsh told E! News during a recent interview.
But then she let all that information go.
"You want to do–obviously—the most honest and honorable job you can to those who have had to deal with that kind of tragedy, but at the same time I wanted to really kind of come at it from my own place and honor what [creator Brian Yorkey] had written in the script," Walsh explained.
The series is a heavy one, not quite an easy binge, and not quite easy to film. Walsh said she would go back and forth between filming in Northern California and Los Angeles and was able to let everything go when not on set. It's a show—and Walsh's performance—that will stick with you. And speaking of Walsh's memorably roles, is there any chance she'd return to the role of Dr. Addison Montgomery on Grey's Anatomy?
"I don't know," she said with a laugh. "It's always a possibility, I guess, for a very, very, very special episode."
Watch the video above for Walsh's take on why high school is ripe for TV drama and check out 13 Reasons Why when it drops on Netflix on Friday, March 31.