Australian breakout star Sophie Wilde has a handle on horror. After starring in critically-acclaimed scare fest Talk To Me earlier this year, she will now bring to our screens the very real terrors behind being a teenager, body image and, most heartbreakingly, the impact of eating disorders.

She stars as protagonist Mia in Netflix’s new drama Everything Now, which explores the rocky recovery journey after in-patient treatment for anorexia and bulimia. While there is darkness, Sophie and her castmates all bring light to the story by setting about trying to make up for everything Mia missed while in treatment, making a F**k It Bucket List of teenage pursuits like partying, smoking, sex – you name it. Think Sex Education with a touch of Skins – and a few appearances from Stephen Fry, who plays Mia’s doctor.

Just as Talk To Me explores the trauma caused by grief, Everything Now navigates the ripple effect of Mia’s eating disorder – how it lingers in the patient, as well as their family and friends’ lives. The show is partially based on writer Ripley Parker’s real-life experiences with food and body image, and she’s not alone – according to charity Beat, 1.25 million people in the UK have an eating disorder, with more young people than ever receiving treatment.

From a very Wes Anderson-esque hotel room in Paris, Sophie opened up to GLAMOUR about the precarious balance of bringing authenticity to a role depicting eating disorders, without glamorising or triggering – as well as the conversations she hopes the show will start around food and body image.

What drew you to the part of Mia, and to Everything Now?

When I got the audition, I was shooting Talk To Me, and it was a very different vibe. I wanted to do something that was completely different, that operated in a slightly lighter space, even though obviously this show deals with quite heavy themes.

Plus, Ripley’s writing is just so incredible. I was just so drawn to Mia, I feel like in a lot of ways she's a younger version of myself. I wish that when I was younger, I had a show like this. In the original script, Ripley would write in specific songs for scenes, and some of the songs I was like, ‘no, you're taking the p*ss’ because it was my favourite song when I was a teenager. I think I just resonated with it so much.

What kind of impact do you hope that Mia’s story has?

I really hope that the show instils hope in people and that people can see that potentially recovery is possible. I feel like there's so many misconceptions around eating disorders, so we really made a conscious effort to be as informative as we could. What's great about this show is that it you not only see Mia’s perspective and how she's dealing with with it, but how [her eating disorder] affects her friends and her family.

The chemistry of the friendship group is so clear on screen – was it strange channelling a London teenager, having grown up in Sydney?

There's something so universal about being a teenager that it’s gonna be the same, regardless of where you live – apart from maybe some specificities.

It was funny for me at the start, because I'm the oldest, and I'm Australian. I didn't know what anyone was talking about, like everyone was talking about TikToks, and I was like, ‘couldn't be me!’. But then I learned and they taught me well.

We have such a great cast, everyone's so incredible, by the end we really became like a little family. There was very much an organic connection between the whole group, and everyone imbues a part of themselves into their characters. So much of that play and that kind of frenetic energy was already there between us.

Everything Now has already been compared to Sex Education and Heartstopper with its queer and sex positive storylines, why was it important to you to be involved in a project like this?

I think what's so amazing about this show is that sexuality is so fluid. It's never a point of contention, or anything, which I really resonated with, because that has been my experience of sexuality. That's how my friends have always operated. It's never been a thing that needed to be said. And I think that's something that's kind of interesting, and maybe we haven't seen necessarily before.

You must’ve had to do research into eating disorders for the part – how was that and what was important to you in how it was portrayed?

Obviously a level of authenticity was really important, and doing a lot of research before. But I think my biggest fear was that I, and we as a collective, really didn't want to glamorise it – or for audiences to see it as something to aspire to. I understand how triggering eating disorders can be. I felt like that was very much a duty of care. I don't take that lightly.

Shame is a big theme in the show, with Mia saying she feels ‘incorrect’ in her own skin and suffering with body dysmorphia and how to dress. Did any of this resonate with you personally in terms of body image, how did you handle shouldering that in the role?

Post show, I noticed how ingrained the discourses around body image and food are – even just going out and people saying things so absentmindedly. You really notice that it's always there. It's always prevalent in society. And in the most insidious way, where you don't even recognise it. It's not easy.

I feel like most women have had struggles with body image and disordered eating, to some extent. It's hard, but it felt important – it felt like something that needed to be said and needed to be done.

What it was like working with Stephen Fry?

He's the most intelligent man I have ever met. I just love him. And he told me he loves Clueless! I was like ‘slay!’. He’s so generous and kind – he’s f*cking Stephen Fry, he doesn't need to be giving me everything in a scene but he does and is so supportive. Biggest love for that man ever.

How was it playing a fantasy horror with Talk To Me vs a kind of real life horror of what we see in Everything Now, with illness and what Mia refers to as the horror of real life situations like love and family issues etc?

Yeah, it was interesting, because they were shot back to back. I guess fundamentally, you're accessing the same points. Everything Now has the beauty of it being a comedy in a lot of ways. And it having this levity and these light moments and the awkwardness of being a teenager. I think it was actually really nice to kind of sit in trauma, but in a different way.

Would you say you get drawn to particularly mentally challenging parts – it’s said you had to go into a ‘fractured headspace’ for Talk To Me, and playing Mia can’t have been much easier.

Honestly, yes. I probably do. Maybe it's a form of catharsis or something, being able to tap into these very dark places in a person? I think that just really excites me as an actor. You're playing with the crux of what it means to be a person – and [be in] pain. I think I'm definitely drawn to that.

What have you found to be empowering in your life?

I think my female relationships have been the grounding force of my life – they have propelled me forward in so many ways. This job and this career can be lonely and hard, but I've always had them to ground me and to champion me and to teach me a myriad of life lessons. And I'm eternally grateful to have those people in my life.

The show explores so many areas of mental health, what have you found keeps your own mind grounded?

It's doing the simple things. It's sleeping, it's exercising, it's eating well. I feel like people always drill that into you, and you're like, ‘well, it actually can't be that simple’. And it's not necessarily always that simple. But it's actually insane how when you do those things, it can dramatically change your life.

Do you have a dream role you’d like to play - you’ve said before you love period dramas, maybe Bridgerton, another Netflix hit?

I would love to be in Pride and Prejudice. That is my bread and butter, BBC Pride and Prejudice with Colin Firth, I used to have that on VHS. and I have watched that 100 million times.

Let's bring him in for a 2024 rendition.

I'd have to tap it out. I'd have to retire. I think if I met him I’d actually die! Me in a gown, a little hat. Smash. That's what we need.

This interview was edited and condensed for clarity.

Everything Now is available to watch now on Netflix.

If you’re worried about your own or someone else’s health, you can contact Beat, the UK’s eating disorder charity, 365 days a year on 0808 801 0677 or beateatingdisorders.org.uk.