PHILADELPHIA — It still feels surreal for Philly novelist Liz Moore.

It was only a year ago she was standing on the set of "Long Bright River," a TV adaptation of her Kensington-based novel inspired by her years of volunteering in the infamous open drug market.

“To be standing inside of a house, that has been rendered to look like something [that] first started inside your imagination, and now all of a sudden you are standing inside of it, was very trippy and very moving,” Moore said.

The eponymous novel follows a patrol cop named Michaela “Mickey” Fitzpatrick, who uncovers a string of murders in Kensington. The killing of young sex workers draws little police attention, but Mickey ignores orders not to track down the killer and, eventually, her missing sister Kacey.

In 2009, Framingham, Massachusetts, native Moore first visited the working-class neighborhood, joining photographer Jeffrey Stockbridge on the Kensington Blues project, as he documented the human cost of the opioid addiction. Moore’s observations, on-the-street interviews, and work with the Thea Bowman Women’s Center, where she volunteered as a creative writing instructor, inspired her to pen "Long Bright River" in 2020.

The book won several awards and drew the attention of Peacock executives, who adapted her novel into one of the platform’s most anticipated shows this year.

The thriller, which stars Emmy-winning actress and Allentown native Amanda Seyfried, premiered on Peacock March 13. Moore serves as the series’ co-creator and executive producer, and made sure the series was as true to Philly as possible.

“I always felt like I had a seat at the table,” Moore said. “People were willing to listen to my voice. And I attempted, as much as I could, to use the opportunity to bring people from Philadelphia and Kensington to set, so they could speak for themselves.”

Last summer, alongside "Long Bright River" showrunner Nikki Toscano, Moore invited Philly-born artist Timothy Curtis to recreate the graffiti from Kensington’s walls. Curtis and set production designer Amy Williams brought a group of Kensington graffiti writers to New York City to tag as many surfaces as they could for the show.

Moore also recruited community leaders like Franciscan priest Father Michael Duffy and Philly rapper OT The Real for speaking roles in the series. Sarah Laurel of Savage Sisters Recovery was brought on to advise on proper wound care for the show’s intensive action scenes, and Johanna Berrigan and Mary Beth Appel of the House of Grace Catholic Worker also made it to set.

To add to the show’s authenticity, the lead actors made their way to Kensington.

As part of research for her role as Mickey, Seyfried stopped by St. Francis Inn and did a ride-along with members of the Philadelphia Police Department. And actress Ashleigh Cummings, who plays Kacey in the series, regularly volunteered at Savage Sisters Recovery.

These elements, Moore said, helped translate the story from the page to the small screen. It also helped to have Seyfried leading the charge. “She’s obviously a gorgeous movie star, but not so secretly anymore, she’s a stunningly good actress who could be a character actor if she wanted to be,” Moore said. “And I think we are starting to see that more and more from her in her career.”

"Long Bright River" is Moore’s first true foray into TV production, and having Toscano as a guide eased the pressure of executive producing and ensured her suggestions had a place to land in the show’s writing.

In shaping the series, the author and director of Temple’s MFA program in creative writing had two conditions: There would be no use of the words jawn or cheesesteak in the script. “I object to lazy shorthand about Philadelphia, and I’m only interested in sort of more complex, well-rounded representations of the city,” she said.

But, Moore and Toscano made an exception for Wawa. “One of our actors showed up with a very large iced drink from Wawa, and we got permission to use it on camera, so it happened in a natural way,” she joked.

For Moore, a South Philly resident, it was paramount to offer true insight into a neighborhood that’s been gravely “misrepresented” in the media.

The aim, she said, was to create a series that runs counter to the false or misguided depictions of Kensington, while shining a light on the activists, artists, and change-makers striving to make a difference in the area she first stepped into 16 years ago.

“I think it would be a mistake to portray Kensington very simplistically, in either direction,” Moore said. “I’m not interested in perpetuating negative stereotypes about Kensington that simplifies it, nor am I interested in portraying Kensington in a way that sweeps the real issues it has under the rug.”

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'LONG BRIGHT RIVER'

Rating: TV-MA

How to watch: Peacock

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