Creators of Hulu’s ‘We Were the Lucky Ones’ join WTOP to chronicle family of Holocaust survivors
The new miniseries depicting the Holocaust, “We Were the Lucky Ones,” premieres on Hulu this Thursday.
WTOP caught up with actress Joey King, showrunner Erica Lipez and author Georgia Hunter, who based the eponymous source novel on her grandfather, Addy.
“Unlike many kids who come from Holocaust survivors, I did not know this part of my story,” Hunter told WTOP. “My grandfather was one of those who put it behind him. … I adored my grandfather, but he died when I was 14. Then at 15, a high-school English teacher assigned us a project to interview a relative to learn about our roots. I sat with my grandmother, Caroline, and it was over the course of that hour with her that his story came to light.”
The miniseries follows a Polish-Jewish family, including five siblings and their two parents, who are separated at the start of World War II, but they remain determined to survive and reunite after the war. It’s adapted for the screen by Lipez, who was previously a writer and executive producer on “Bates Motel” and “The Morning Show.”
“When I read Georgia’s book, I read it in like 24 hours — I couldn’t put it down. It left me absolutely breathless and heartbroken and uplifted,” Lipez told WTOP. “It had everything that I had ever wanted to do as a writer and as a Jewish writer. I had never been able to explore content like this, but as someone who had written a lot of television, I knew some of the ‘rules’ you try to follow in TV and it broke so many of them.”
Lipez tapped Virginia native Thomas Kail (“Hamilton”) to direct alongside Amit Gupta and Neasa Hardiman.
“It does have that breathless pace that you want to follow,” Lipez said. “I think what makes this story so remarkable are the different strands of storytelling through the family. … To be able to follow those storylines equally throughout the series is only something you could do in a TV show with eight episodes. That was the real gift that Hulu gave us: to have those eight hours to explore the family in as much depth as we wanted to.”
The series stars King, who began as a child star in “Crazy Stupid Love” and “The Conjuring” before earning an Emmy nomination for Hulu’s “The Act” and kicking butt in the Hulu movie “The Princess.” Born in 1999, King wasn’t alive for “Schindler’s List” (1999) or “Life is Beautiful” (1997), but she’s no stranger to the Holocaust.
“The Holocaust and my Jewish history has been something that is ever-present in conversations in my home since I was a young girl,” King told WTOP. “In an age of social media, information is so accessible. … Everything is tailored to each person so perfectly on algorithms. … I have had very interesting stories of Holocaust survivors show up on TikTok, but I don’t know if it’s just my algorithm. I really hope that my generation can continue to learn about it.”
Now, a limited series like “We Were the Lucky Ones” is the perfect starting point.
“Our show is educational, it’s very harrowing, it has a lot of hope and a lot of heartbreak, but it’s also entertainment, which is a really fabulous way to retain information — by sitting down and watching a show with your family, with your loved ones,” King said. “When any true version of the Holocaust is told in a form of television or film, it’s an opportunity to learn a completely new perspective from the Holocaust.”
Hear our full conversation on the podcast below: