Dakota Fanning Broke New Ground with ‘All Her Fault’

When Dakota Fanning was approached about starring in the Peacock limited series All Her Fault, she only needed to hear two words to get excited about the opportunity: Sarah Snook.

“I was such a massive fan of hers,” Fanning says of the Emmy Award-winning Succession star.

But the show also provided Fanning with more than just a chance to work opposite someone she admired. 

“I wanted to portray women that I know,” she says. “I got to show the struggles that a lot of friends of mine go through, trying to be everything to everyone all the time.”

Based on the 2021 novel of the same name by Andrea Mara and adapted for television by Megan Gallagher, All Her Fault focuses on Marissa Irvine (Snook), whose son disappears during a playdate purportedly arranged with the son of Jenny Kaminski (Fanning). It turns out, Marissa was given the wrong address — and as she searches for her missing child, a larger conspiracy is revealed involving hidden motives, unreliable memories and multiple shocking connections.

For Fanning, playing Jenny — a woman struggling with the often unfair expectations placed on working mothers — proved fulfilling and complex. “I have described her as a people-pleaser, but in the best version of that term,” she says. “She’s really trying to be whatever version of herself that the person in front of her needs her to be. But that doesn’t mean it’s false or not real.”

The 32-year-old, an Emmy nominee in 2024 for her supporting turn on the limited series Ripley, adds that she was often struck by how Jenny constantly strived to be a good person. 

“She’s trying to do the right thing and coming from a really genuine place in doing all of that,” she says. “So I admired that.”

One of Jenny’s most challenging relationships on All Her Fault is with her husband, Ritchie (Thomas Cocquerel). As revealed toward the end of the season, Ritchie hasn’t been completely honest with Jenny — not because of any nefarious criminal activities, but because he’s shirked his parental responsibilities and lied to her about his whereabouts. “He just takes a breather in his car by the water. She is, as you can imagine, pissed,” Fanning says.

Shooting Jenny’s ultimate confrontation with Ritchie was not only “really fun,” Fanning says, but it also allowed her to explore complex feelings about relationships she hadn’t seen depicted onscreen previously.

“Sometimes in relationships, you’re thinking about what’s good for yourself. And, in reality, when you’re thinking about relationships and partnerships, if you plan on having kids, it’s like, ‘Who would be a good example to a child?’” she says. “I haven’t heard that talked about in a lot of series.”

The Georgia-born Fanning has been acting for decades. She started when she was 5 and landed her first significant onscreen role in an episode of ER in 2000 (around the same time, she even played a young Ally McBeal on Ally McBeal). As she grew up, Fanning worked with countless major stars and filmmakers, including Steven Spielberg, Tom Cruise, Michelle Pfeiffer, Denzel Washington and Sean Penn. Now that she’s grown, she tries to pay it forward to young actors she meets on set.

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