It is an extremely busy time to be Louisa Harland right now. Less than a year ago she was kicking her heels up on the Olivier stage in the National Theatre’s production of Dancing at Lughnasa. Then she was acting opposite Woody Harrelson and Andy Serkis in David Ireland’s Ulster American at Riverside Studios. Currently, she is in the star-studded production of Eugene O’Neill’s classic Long Day’s Journey into Night at Wyndham’s Theatre. You almost have to wonder, where did she get the time to also be the lead in Sally Wainwright’s latest show on Disney+?

Framed for murder and on the run with her sisters, Renegade Nell is the story of Nell Jackson, who must turn her hand to highway robbery to survive. Aided by her superpowered sidekick, a plucky little sprite called Billy Blind, Nell realises that fate has put her on the wrong side of the law for a reason, a reason much bigger than she could have ever imagined: to defeat a magical plot against the Queen of England.

As Nell, Louisa Harland is offered her first leading role after her star turn as Orla McCool in Derry Girls. Between rehearsals for Long Day’s Journey, we caught up with Louisa to learn all about Nell Jackson, the rigorous training it took to become her and what we can expect from Renegade Nell.

Barry Pierce: Hey Louisa, how are you?
Louisa Harland: I’m very tired, but I’m good. I’m in rehearsals at the moment for Long Day’s Journey Into Night on the West End. I’m playing the Irish maid, would you believe it?

BP: I’m shaking at that casting.
LH: [laughs] Yeah. It’s myself, Brian Cox, Patricia Clarkson, Daryl McCormack, and Laurie Kynaston. It’s a really lovely cast of five.

BP: That is an insane cast. I’ve got to let you know, I’ve been making my way through Renegade Nell and I’ve been enjoying it so much. What I love is that most of us know you as Orla McCool from Derry Girls and now you’re the lead in his huge Disney+ show and it’s such a completely different role. What is it like not just being in a leading role, but being the title character in a show?
LH: The title track of the album? [laughs] It’s an amazing opportunity. And obviously I was terrified because there’s lots of room for error. But I just feel so lucky to have gotten the role and to be given an opportunity to play someone so different to myself. I felt like that with Orla too. Obviously, I have Orla traits. But that was another really different character to myself so I just felt really lucky to be given the opportunity to do some transformation.

BP: What was it about the show that made you audition?
LH: Well, I was actually struggling a bit for work during Derry Girls. I was working in a pub, and when we were filming the third series I got this taping for a Sally Wainwright Disney show and I thought, how interesting. I wasn’t sent the episodes or anything. My partner, who’s a proper Cockney, helped me with the accent and we sent off the tape. I also think, because I was filming Derry Girls, it made me look a lot busier than I was when I couldn’t get back to London for a recall. I think that also helped as well, it made me look in demand. [laughs]

BP: With comedic performances, like your one in Derry Girls, there is a worry for actors of being typecast. Did you take on this role, in part, because it’s so different from what the public expects from you because of Derry Girls?
LH: I really wanted the opportunity to show that I can do more than just play Orla McCool. But until you’re at a certain stage of your career, you don’t get to pick and choose what you do. It’s a real privilege to be able to go “I’ll do this next.” It wasn’t a choice, necessarily, to take this role but I was very lucky to get to do it.

BP: And, honestly, who says no to Sally Wainwright? She’s probably the country’s most respected television writer. What was it like to work with her?
LH: Just incredible. And she’s also one of the best writers for women. The women she writes about are so real and flawed and funny. So to put that together with Disney, I think it’s really special. She wrote this script about fifteen years ago and she just had it in a drawer. So it’s a world she created a long time ago but it’s been incredible seeing it come to life.

BP: One of the things that I love about the show, and I can tell when I’m watching that you’re loving it too, are all the insane over-the-top fight scenes. What were they like to film?
LH: I can’t ride a bike, never mind a horse. So I had to do three months of fight training and horse riding. That was an incredible experience. I had an incredible stunt team and my stunt double, Melissa Humler, grew up in the circus and is on the French Olympic bouldering team, she is literally Nell. She gave me so much confidence, I’m in awe of her and I just want to be her. 

BP: Did you at any point during the training think, “What is this? How did I end up here?”
LH: I do that all the time. When I was filming and I spent two days being drowned in a puddle in the middle of the night I thought to myself, “Yeah this is my job.” [laughs] But it’s amazing.

BP: What were your beginnings as an actor?
LH: Ever since I was a child I was doing feises and I went to the Young Peoples’ Theatre in Rathfarnham in Dublin. But ever since I was a young child I was doing poetry competitions and Shakespeare cups and comedy cups. I always wanted to be on the stage, always. My dream was to go to London, go to drama school and end up on the stage. Obviously, it hasn’t been as easy a ride as that but I’m sitting here about to do my third play in a row in London.

BP: So what can the audience expect from the first series of Renegade Nell?
LH: I believe each episode is almost like a small feature film. They all have a different style, they all take on a different adventure. It’s a swashbuckling romp that you can watch with the whole family. It’s going to be surprisingly moving at parts and surprisingly funny. There’s also so many amazing guest characters, incredible actors who appeared on each episode. It truly feels like this is only just the beginning of this world that Sally created.

Renegade Nell launches on the 29th of March exclusively on Disney+, with all episodes available to stream.