How Nick Robinson Kept His Maid Character From Becoming A Toxic Stereotype

Nick Robinson played Sean in Maid, the 2021 miniseries based on the book Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mother’s Will to Survive by Stephanie Land. Previously known for roles such as Simon in Love, Simon, Maid represented a great challenge for Robinson, as Sean wasn’t the stereotypical hero or love interest the actor had built their career on. Sean in Maid is the abusive boyfriend of Alex (Margaret Qualley), and portraying such a violent and hateful character required a lot of preparation on Robinson’s part.

Maid was received incredibly well when it debuted on Netflix, with Nick Robinson’s chilling performance as Sean being singled out as a highlight by many critics. Many pointed out just how harrowing and realistic Robinson had made the character - and there’s a reason Sean doesn’t seem like a toxic stereotype of a domestic abuse perpetrator. Robinson put in a considerable amount of research to understand Sean, and his thoughts on the Maid character are fascinating.

Why Sean In Maid Was Such An Interesting Role For Nick Robinson

The Love Simon Star Had Never Taken On A Role Like Sean

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Sean in Maid was a huge deviation from the characters Nick Robinson previously played in his career. Characters like Simon in Love, Simon and Zach in Jurassic World were heroes, so stepping up to playing a complex antagonist like Sean was new territory for the actor. In an interview with Goldderby, Robinson explained this change in direction was partly what attracted him to Maid:

“The first thing that I was interested in exploring with Sean was just having the opportunity to play such a different character from roles that I’ve played in the past.”

However, he didn’t fall into the trap of making the abusive Sean a two-dimensional and toxic villain. Robinson saw early on the need for nuance when playing the character of Sean in Maid, which is what attracted him to the script in the first place. Robinson told Goldderby that his first impressions of Sean, and the challenges playing a character like him would present, enticed him when he first read screenwriter Molly Smith Metzler’s script:

“Her picture of Sean was very clear. It just made sense to me. I felt like I had known people sort of like this guy. [Sean is a] multi-dimensional character and I think it was important right from the jump to make sure that he didn’t fall into any kind of stereotypes.”

Speaking to Grazia in a separate interview, Nick Robinson went into extensive detail about Sean in Maid and why complexity is such an integral part of the character. Robinson revealed that extensive conversations with Maid director John Wells ensured the actor understood how important Sean’s history was when it came to his abusive treatment of Alex:

“One of the things that John Wells said to me when we were talking about Sean as a character was that he has been taking care of other people his entire life. The show doesn’t go into it so much because it’s a show about Alex. But his mother was a drug addict, had substance abuse issues. He was caring for his little brother all the way up through school, dropped out of high school to care for him. And just as he was starting to be able to live life on his terms, he gets Alex pregnant.”

How Nick Robinson Used Anger To Craft The Character Of Sean

Emotion Was Incredibly Important

From his comments, it’s clear that Nick Robinson understood Maid wouldn’t be an effective story if Sean was presented as a toxic stereotype of perpetrators of domestic abuse. However, the actor also doesn’t condone any of Sean’s behavior, despite understanding the complex background of his Maid character and how the antagonist is, in many ways, a product of his environment. In his Grazia interview, Nick Robinson shared his views on how to mentally process Sean’s actions while still having empathy for the character:

“[In Sean] there’s just all this resentment and anger. And it’s not right at all. But that was something that made me have some compassion for him. He just can’t seem to escape his circumstances, this vicious cycle of poverty and trauma from his parents and his upbringing, and not being able to ask for help and having no coping mechanisms other than alcohol; having that behavior as what was modeled to him as a kid. He’s a complicated character and there’s no easy answers.”

The resentment and anger Robinson mentioned were a key part of his process of bringing Sean to the screen. For the star of the Netflix miniseries, channeling bitterness towards the world was an essential aspect of becoming Sean just as much as understanding the character’s history. This was especially true for flashback scenes portraying Sean’s violence:

“I was listening to a lot of Eminem and I would just do push-ups, and I had an elastic resistance band that I would just pull. I’m not naturally an angry person. It’s not something that comes easily to me. That’s definitely not my first instinct when I’m upset. So, just trying to find ways to really get my blood flowing, so to speak. I probably looked like a crazy person, but I was just trying to channel some of that anger.”

For Nick Robinson, playing Sean in Maid was about recreating the emotions behind Sean’s actions, rather than becoming hyperfocused on the actions themselves. Robinson manages to make Sean into a character viewers feel they can somewhat relate to, albeit uncomfortably. It’s not simply simulated abuse on-screen - it’s a harrowing portrayal of a human being harming another due to a strength of feeling audiences can understand even if they’ve not experienced it. This is why Sean, and Maid in general, is a portrayal of domestic violence and abuse in a nonstereotypical way that avoids many toxic tropes.

Playing Sean In Maid Was Challenging For Nick Robinson

The Role Pushed The Actor Out Of His Comfort Zone

While his performance was astounding, playing Sean in Maid was difficult for Nick Robinson. Channeling the character’s rage took its toll on the actor, as he explained in his Grazia interview. Not angry by nature himself, the levels of rage he had to bring forth to create Sean in Maid had a noteworthy psychological impact:

“It was a challenge, but kind of a welcome one. In this perverse way it was kinda cathartic to be yelling. Not so much when I was yelling at [Margaret], but there were scenes from her POV where I’m just screaming into a camera lens, and that stuff — I felt weird afterwards, but that release was kind of perversely cathartic.”

Robinson’s challenges and the strange sense of release he felt playing Sean also helps understand the character and their actions in Maid. Sean is abusive due to his own pent-up anger. His treatment of Alex is unforgivable. However, it’s also understandable when viewed as it being Sean’s unhealthy coping mechanism when it comes to his temper issues. This doesn’t excuse the abuse, but it does contextualize the behavior (and makes Sean a more nuanced character in the process).

Sean’s Motivations In Maid According To Nick Robinson

Misplaced Anger And Control Drive Sean's Abuse

Given his deep understanding of Sean in Maid thanks to his rigorous creative process, Nick Robinson has many ideas about the motivations behind the abuse. While the core emotion the violence stems from is repressed anger, this doesn’t mean Sean’s treatment of Alex is done without motive. When speaking to Grazia, Robinson explained that Sean’s inability to break behavior patterns coupled with his strange concept of family were the toxic combination that led to his actions in Maid:

“If Sean wanted [Alex] in his life, he would change his behaviors. And I think he does try. But he falls back into these old habits and patterns. I felt like I had grown up sort of knowing people like this, and loyalty to family is a huge thing — even when that loyalty is kind of maybe not the best for the person. You stick it out. Family is family. I think that that’s one thing: even if he’s unhappy in the relationship, they made a family, and his parents probably broke up, and he’s not gonna do that.”

However, while Robinson understands where Sean’s destructive nature comes from, he also points out there’s also a definite toxic and coercive element to the abuse in Maid. While Sean may be the product of his history, he is also deliberately trying to control Alex in a way that it’s more-or-less impossible for most people to empathize with too:

“I also think that it’s about control as well. For Sean a lot of it is about being the man of the house and being in control of what goes on in Alex’s circumstance so that she can’t abandon him. I think a lot of it has to do with control.”

The Deeper Message Of Maid Is More Important Than Sean

Of all Nick Robinson’s thoughts on playing Sean in Maid, by far the more interesting are his views on the show as a whole. In particular, his perspective on the political message of the Netflix miniseries. While Sean and the visceral violence are among the most memorable scenes, most of the story in Maid is dedicated to Alex trying to navigate many pitfalls of modern poverty such as the welfare system.

This wasn’t lost on Nick Robinson. Speaking to Grazia, the Maid cast member went into great detail about the importance of the social commentary of the miniseries, and how it’s this, rather than Sean’s treatment of Alex, that’s the key takeaway from the story:

“There is an irony in a bunch of actors getting together to make a story about working class people. That was not lost on me. But we did try to make it as realistic as possible and show the situations that Stephanie really lived through. It’s all spelled out in [Stephanie Land’s book], the insane bureaucracy that she had to deal with, all of the forms and the sub-forms. It’s a shame how incredibly difficult — and it’s intentional — how difficult the welfare system is to navigate. It’s intentionally making you work really, really, really hard for not a lot of assistance. And I hope that the show can dispel some of the myths around poverty, like welfare queens, for example; people just living off of a government check. It doesn’t really exist, because as soon as you hit a certain threshold of income, your benefits disappear.”