#One of Us Is Lying EP Darío Madrona Talks Reinventing the Teen Drama, the Importance of Paying Tribute to Source Material, & More!

Darío Madrona is known as the co-creator of Elite, which is widely considered one of the best teen dramas on the air.

With compelling mysteries, characters, and production values, it’s hard not to compare Peacock’s One of Us Is Lying to the Netflix hit.

Madrona is an Executive Producer on the new drama, which premieres on Peacock Thursday, October 7.

The series is based on the 2017 book by Katherine M. McManus, and Darío was immediately sold on the prospect of adapting it after reading it in less than 24 hours.

He called the book addictive and fun and appreciated the fun murder mystery at the center.

The concept of One of Us Is Lying is a group of teenagers entering detention and one of them not leaving alive.

“It had a nice mix of darkness because somebody dies and the secrets and all of that, but also it was sort of luminous in a way,” he shared, adding that he liked getting to know the characters and the lengths they would go to.

Darío revealed that McManus was a consultant on the series adaptation and that his intention from the outset was to be faithful to both the story and the characters.

“There’s always going to change, and we also want to change things,” he teased, adding that he thinks they pulled off something that will honor the book and have some surprises for fans.

When asked what sets the series apart from the other teen dramas, Madrona was vocal about the characters having secrets, and witnessing the lengths to which they will go is fun for the audience.

“We start with finding out the secrets, finding out that they’ve lied, finding out that all the lies that they told, and then we also see all the shapes of them.”

“And we start to see all the good stuff in them,” he said, teasing that they do become friends throughout this ordeal, but he liked that we met the secrets first before the conflicts.

Darío has become known for working on projects that have a central mystery resolved throughout the course of a single season.

He said those types of shows excite him because many shows struggle to sustain the same plot for multiple seasons, so there’s a lot of value in wiping the slate clean.

“The possibility of telling like one mystery in a season, you don’t have to stretch it too much.”

“You don’t have to go through like every possible character is a suspect. You have enough time to develop the characters and set up the twists.”

“But at the same time, you can tell a contained story,” without having to stretch it out for too long.

“Eight episodes, 45 minutes. I think it’s a perfect time to tell a mystery that has enough twists and turns and enough character development.”

While the book has a very definite ending, the show could continue for future storylines.

“We have tried to be both respectful of the spirit of the book, but also the ending goes in a different direction that can hopefully allow us to tell more stories set in this world.

TV Fanatic got the chance to watch the first six episodes of One of Us Is Lying ahead of broadcast, and it’s a terrific show.

I’ll be doing weekly reviews of all the biggest twists and turns. One thing you’ll understand from the beginning is that this is not your typical teen drama.

Enough is going on here to entertain viewers of all ages.

Check out the trailer.

Paul Dailly is the Associate Editor for TV Fanatic. Follow him on Twitter.