Why Robyn Cara's Gut-Wrenching The Rainmaker Role Makes Her One to Watch
Here's everything to know about the actress on the rise.
Robyn Cara is having a breakout turn in The Rainmaker, bringing unexpected depth to a gut-wrenching role.
The British actress, 30, plays Kelly Riker, a young wife desperate to escape an abusive marriage. While the USA Network legal drama follows rookie attorney Rudy Baylor (Milo Callaghan) as he investigates a hospital cover-up, Kelly’s storyline has pushed domestic violence themes to the forefront.
“It’s an important story to tell,” Cara recently shared of her role. “It’s such a horrible situation, and it was challenging, but I hope I did it justice.”
Like the John Grisham best-selling novel and the film, the series sees Rudy step in to protect his battered neighbor, and their bond grows stronger with each episode. However, episode seven, which aired Friday, Sept. 26 introduced a twist.
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Who is Robyn Cara?
After graduating from the Birmingham School of Acting in 2016, the London-based actress made her feature film debut at 24 in 2019’s We Die Young, followed by the 2020 comedy series Trying.
Before The Rainmaker, Cara was best known as Emmy in Bodkin, the first scripted series from Barack Obama and Michelle Obama’s production company, Higher Ground.
More recently, she starred as Daria in this year’s indie fantasy film Legend Has It, directed by Niall Johnson.
But The Rainmaker has been her most challenging project yet. “I didn’t have too much in common with her, but I did look at some cases, from the abusee’s perception of it, from their side of the story,” she said, adding that her hope is to “give a voice to the voiceless.”
What Happened in The Rainmaker Episode 7?
In the Sept. 26 episode, Kelly’s gripping side story came to the forefront. After escaping her abusive husband Cliff (Fionn Ó Loingsigh) with Rudy’s help, he tracked her down at the house of Dot (Karen Bryson) and attacked her. This time, however, Kelly shot and killed him, but Rudy took the blame to protect her. In the book and the movie, the two characters develop a romantic connection in the aftermath; however, the TV adaptation introduced a platonic twist, a last-minute decision by show creator Michael Seitzman.
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“I like the way it played out in this version because she’s just been through such a horrible thing… She killed her husband, so her brain must just be everywhere. She’s just gone through a huge amount of trauma,” Cara reflected in a recent interview. “So I think going through for a more platonic ending with the characters with them, it feels like the right way to go for us in this version.”
New episodes of The Rainmaker premiere on USA Network every Friday at 10/9c p.m. before making their way to Peacock one week after they air.
