Interview Excerpt: A Showrunner on Crafting Complex Antiheroes

Antiheroes have become central to contemporary television storytelling. To explore how they are crafted, we spoke with Elena Torres, the showrunner behind the acclaimed drama 'Borderlines'. The conversation focused on ethical complexity, actor collaboration, and strategies for maintaining audience engagement across seasons. Below are edited highlights.

On moral ambiguity — Elena: 'I think audiences are more willing to tolerate flawed protagonists if they're written with honesty. It's not about glamorizing poor choices; it's about showing consequences. When a character does something morally ambiguous, the narrative must show the fallout. Otherwise, what you create is not complexity but entitlement.'

On casting — Elena: 'Casting is everything. You need actors who can think like the writers and bring subtext into motion. An actor who can inhabit contradictory impulses without explanation gives the audience room to wrestle with the character.'

On collaboration with writers — Elena: 'We begin with archetypes but slowly unpack them. The writers' room is a place to test reactions. Sometimes a character idea that seems clever on paper becomes unwatchable if the audience can't find a point of access. We hold onto a thread of empathy even when the character does terrible things.'

Balancing mystery and payoff — Elena: 'Serialized shows need to balance puzzle and character. If you tilt too far toward mystery, characters become props. Too much character, and the central mystery loses momentum. The trick is to let character choices drive the mystery forward; revelations must feel organic.'

On long-term arcs — Elena: 'We map out arcs but leave flexibility. Breaking storylines into thematic beats rather than fixed plot points helps adapt to performance breakthroughs or production constraints. It's also kinder to actors; they can discover things organically rather than acting toward a distant reveal.'

"Sympathy is a negotiation between audience and text. Your job is to make the negotiation honest, not to win it by artifice." — Elena Torres

On audience response and social media — Elena: 'Showrunners today live in a world where real-time reactions are part of the ecosystem. Social media can be a gift — testing ideas, seeing which characters resonate — but it's also dangerous. It can encourage pandering to outrage. We try to listen for patterns but not let daily commentary dictate structural decisions.'

On endings — Elena: 'Endings are the ultimate promise you make to viewers. We owe them coherence. If you spend seasons building a moral latitude for a character, the ending must interrogate that latitude honestly. There are no guarantees. But a satisfying ending respects character choices and the thematic inquiries you raised.'

Advice for emerging creators — Elena: 'Write with curiosity and for an audience that's smarter than you think. Create characters with contradictions, and don't be afraid to let them make the wrong choices. But always show consequences. Complexity without consequence is just obtuseness.'

Final note — Elena's approach places integrity at the center of antihero storytelling. She favors sustained consequences, collaborative discovery, and thematic clarity. For viewers, that translates into shows that demand attention but repay it with thoughtful, sometimes uncomfortable truths.