There's no one way to portray alcoholism.
Freeform's new comedy Single Drunk Female takes a closer look at the recovery process. Starring Sofia Black-D'Elia as 20-something alcoholic Samantha, the series explores what happens when you publicly hit rock bottom and are forced to move home.
Through Alcoholics Anonymous, Samantha is tasked with looking at her life and her loved ones, including widowed mom Carol (Ally Sheedy), in a new light. And, as Black-D'Elia explained to E! News in an exclusive interview, this recovery story is unlike any we've seen before.
"I think that we don't often see stories of recovery told from a younger female perspective," she shared. "And I think that it can affect anybody at any age at any time. And, you know, this is very specific to Simone [Finch], our creator's real life, and this is the age she was when she got sober."
Though this is "a really specific story," per Black-D'Elia, Single Drunk Female is not just about getting sober.
"It's a show about kind of, like, the continual reinvention of yourself," she added. "And that can happen whether you're an addict or not. And I think that it is unique and, hopefully, feels special for people because of that."
Sheedy, who joined her co-star for the interview, expressed a similar sentiment, noting, "I think it doesn't really play to a, quote unquote, script that anyone has seen before. Nothing gets tied up at the end, nothing really gets solved. It's all about the continual sifting through of the mess. Which is basically life, right?"
As for their characters' dynamic—Samantha not-so-lovingly refers to Carol as her "smother" in the trailer—the actresses highlighted that at the start of the series, a shared loss has put a strain on the mother-daughter duo's relationship.
"Sam's father died," Sheedy said of the important backstory. "I, Carol, was the person who was there taking care of him because she was off in New York, you know, drinking her way through, whatever...She just wasn't there."
According to Black-D'Elia, their characters "lost the person that made made their family work," adding, "and they've reacted in such completely different ways to that loss...But in a way, they're the only two people that can really help each other through that. So it's beautiful that Sam has to go back to this this town and this house and figure it out."
For more of Sheedy and Black-D'Elia, tune in when Single Drunk Female premieres with back-to-back episodes tonight, Jan. 20, at 10 p.m. on Freeform.