Showrunner Kathleen Jordan was inspired by COVID-19, wishing to “examine the slice of life moment of pandemic.”

Loosely based on Giovanni Boccaccio’s story collection set during the Black Death, Jordan tells this story in new mode in order to appeal to modern audience.

While the concept itself doesn’t signal comedy, Jordan’s tone and the acting, contribute to the show’s plenty of laughs, while hitting some dark moments.

“I loved how prevalent the comedy, and the darkness, were all at once in this sort of perfectly formed wholesome piece. I think it’s very hard to find that balance of the darkness and the light in one,” Mamet says of her being drawn to the project.

Mamet’s co-star Jackson, whom she acts alongside, felt similarly. “I think it was sort of handled in its own genre. I felt like it bent genres a lot,” she says.

For Reynolds, who plays Licisca, and Plummer, who plays Filomena, the pair felt the instant connection. “It was pretty organic, the chemistry,” Reynolds asks Plummer, who agrees. “I feel like we were our characters,” she adds. Plummer cheekily jokes: “We just were born to play these roles.”

Mamet, who plays Pampinea, and Jackson, who plays her loyal servant Misia, had similar experience. “It doesn’t always happen that way,” Mamet says of connection with Jackson. “Sometimes more effort does need to go into manifesting the relationship.”

Jackson, agreeing with Mamet, says it was a joy to work together. “Zosia is so talented and has such a wide range of skills when it comes to acting that it’s just so fun to see how the scene’s going to play out,” she says.

For Hale, The Decameron offers his character Sirisco, the group’s leader, a series arc. “Many times with comic actors, they can kind of get stuck,” Hale explains. “Gary kind of stayed in emasculated state as a buzzer, which was fun, but it was just nice to see a full circle, and Sirisco to develop and find out his confidence, his courage, his strength.”

Every character has at least one secret, some more drastic than others, but Hale often finds himself at the center of most of these storylines throughout the series.

Hale’s character of Sirisco brings some laughs, but the actor has some touching and sentimental moments throughout the series, saying he craves both. “One thing of many things in the show that I so appreciate is something like a pandemic brings out the worst of humanity and the best of humanity,” Hale explains. “And one person is not all good or all bad.”

The Decameron is now streaming on Netflix.