In Lessons in Chemistry, Aja Naomi King plays Harriet Sloane, a 1950s lawyer and mother who lives across the street from protagonist Elizabeth Zott (Brie Larson). In Bonnie Garmus’ original novel of the same name, Harriet was an older white woman helping Elizabeth raise her baby. But for the Apple TV+ series, creator Lee Eisenberg gave King a more powerful role, as Harriet organizes a protest against a highway that would force black residents from their homes. Here, King describes her connection to Harriet and a storyline that could have been plucked from today’s headlines.

DEADLINE: Didn't you initially audition for another role in Lessons in Chemistry?

AJA NAOMI KING: Yeah, I was going to play this other character. I can't even remember the name of the character now. It was a completely fictional character, not in the book at all. And I remember talking to Lee afterwards and he said, "There's something missing from this story. Harriet is a crucial character in the story, and for the people who love the book, we can't take that away from them." He told me that he originally wanted to put those characters together. But it was like that other character that I brought into the role, she was gone forever, and now I'm Harriet.

I read the book and loved it, and I thought Harriet was a really important character, but I didn’t see how that would fit for me. I thought, we need to have a lot of conversations about this, because it feels really inappropriate, the idea that I’m a black woman with my own children living across the street from me, and I’m just going to drop everything in my life and come take care of this woman’s child. And Lee was like, “The essence of what Harriet was, that’s what we want to hold on to. But you’re going to be in a really healthy, great marriage, and you’re going to have a job already.” He was like, “Harriet is going to do her own thing. She’s going to be her own person who exists in her own right and not just exist in service of Elizabeth Zott.”