Erinn Hayes Talks New Family Drama Series ‘It’s Not Like That’: ‘I Was Thrilled To Jump Into This Character!’ (Exclusive)

A new faith-based family drama is coming to Wonder Project’s subscription service on Prime Video and you won’t want to miss it. It’s Not Like That, starring Scott Foley and Erinn Hayes, follows a father of three grieving the loss of his wife and a mother of two dealing with the aftermath of her divorce. 

As they experience the ebb and flow of their new lives, Malcolm (Foley) and Lori (Hayes) lean on each other for support. But soon, new feelings start to form between them and things get a little more complicated than planned. See the trailer below.

Woman’s World got to chat with star Erinn Hayes about her character, Lori Soto, and what it’s been like to step into this new role.

Woman’s World: When you first read the script for It’s Not Like That, what about it initially stood out to you?

Erinn Hayes: When the audition came my way and I read it through, first, it made me cry. It’s the show that isn’t on the air right now. There’s no aliens, there’s no zombies, there’s no international intrigue. It’s a simple family drama that is so resonant for all of our lives. The writing was beautiful, the characters were all fully developed. There weren’t any filler characters that just existed and it was well thought out, and it was deep and moving. I read it and was, like, ‘Oh, God, this is the co-lead [I’m reading for]. I’m never gonna get this, but I love it so much I’m gonna fight for it.”

Woman’s World: This is the kind of drama series that the world needs right now.

Erinn Hayes: I realized we don’t have Parenthood, we don’t have This Is Us, we don’t have Friday Night Lights—they’re all off the air now. I hope that this audience feels it’s another one in that canon that they can enjoy.

Woman’s World: You play Lori Soto, a newly divorced mother of two with a lot on her plate. What was it about the character that made you want to take on this role? 

Erinn Hayes: It was interesting to read it. My parents got divorced when I was 14, and I was very much like the Merritt [Soto] (Caleb Baumann) of it, our son, who is really angry and he’s acting out. So, I identified with that and was very interested to attack divorce from this side, knowing what the kids’ part of it is that I think they wrote so well. Our daughter, Casey (Liv Lindell), is very much the Peacekeeper and she’s trying to make sure everybody’s okay, and then Merritt’s really angry and against it. And from the parents’ point of view—I have a bunch of friends who have been divorced and talked to some of them—we’re meeting her [Lori] at this moment where it’s not super fresh but she’s dealing with becoming her own person. She’s not trying to hold her husband together. She’s now, like, “Okay, he’s not my job anymore. And who am I?”

And I love how they wrote the relationship with Malcolm [Scott Foley], because she’s lost her best friend, he’s lost his wife and they are just holding each other up and they’re trying to hold their families together with a sense of normalcy. And that very female struggle of trying to make sure the kids are okay, we’re trying to make sure our friend is okay, she’s still trying to make sure her ex-husband is okay because that’s a hard habit to break—trying to juggle all the plates and not drop any. We’re so hard on ourselves and we’re, like “Is this okay? Am I doing the right thing?” I thought that [creators] Ian [Deitchman] and Kristen [Robinson] just wrote that so beautifully and humanly. I was thrilled to jump into this character.

Woman’s World: What were your initial thoughts when you learned you’d be taking on the role of Lori? Were you excited or nervous to step into her shoes?

Erinn Hayes: I was so excited. As my past resume will tell you, I am usually in comedies. And I love comedies, but I’ve always been very excited to step into other doors. Those are just the doors that had opened to me previously and people want to cast what they’ve seen before. So, I was so grateful for Ian and Kristen, our showrunners, and Scott [Foley], who was already brought on. But it was a long process [to book the role]. I think from the first audition to getting the job, it was like a month. I was on the phone with a friend saying, “I need to be put into a medically induced coma. I’m so nervous, it’s all I can think of. I know they’re only gonna think about it for 10 minutes, but I’m just trying not to think about it for 10 minutes.” I was scooping the cat litter when my agents called and I thought they were buying another week of deciding, but there were a lot of them on the phone, and that’s always a good sign. I had to lay down on the floor; I was so excited. I was like, ‘I’m gonna cry.’ It was such a relief, and I just never looked back from that moment.

Woman’s World: As you said, you have been in more comedies than drama roles like this. Was it difficult to prepare for this sort of character as opposed to others that you’ve portrayed in the past?

Erinn Hayes: I don’t think there’s much of a difference, honestly, because I do think good comedy is really hard. Good comedy comes from a grounded and real place, but it’s just people behaving in a larger manner. I just didn’t want to be faking any moment, so that was the difference, whereas with comedy, you are really crafting and playing around on set to find what’s the funniest thing. If I pause here, if I hold back, or if I pull a face first, that will get a laugh. But with this it’s a bit of a different muscle in terms of the prep work. But I think they both are fun and challenging and difficult and so rewarding when you get it right.

Woman’s World: What do you love most about this role?

Erinn Hayes: It’s been really nice because with comedy, sometimes you are a character that exists for a certain joke or for a certain perspective. But with this [character], she’s such a full person. You see her laughing with her friend and you see her crying with her friend or comforting her children or being frustrated with her children. It’s happy, it’s sad, it’s funny, it’s tragic. There’s always some other layer. I love it when a director will say, “Ooh, well, what about this?” And that part of it is all in the scripts. So, it was really fun to peel back all the layers and dive in.

It’s Not Like That premieres with two episodes on Sunday, January 25, on Wonder Project’s subscription on Prime Video, with subsequent episodes debuting weekly.