Daisy Jones & The Six is ready to blow the roof off on Amazon Prime Video.
The miniseries is set to premiere on the streaming platform on Friday and viewers are already buzzing with anticipation.
The series features a mix of headline-making up-and-comers and fresh faces, including Elvis’s granddaughter herself, Riley Keough.
In addition to the rock ‘n’ roll influence that the cast brings, the characters and show’s storylines were inspired by music’s most famous stars and their chaotic lives.
The series is based on The New York Times bestseller written by Taylor Jenkins Reid, who has revealed that Fleetwood Mac served as a huge inspiration for the novel.
The rock star cast includes Will Harrison, Camila Morrone, Sam Claflin, Riley Keough, Josh Whitehouse, Suki Waterhouse and Sebastian Chacon, pictured attending the Daisy Jones & The Six advance screening
The series explores solo artist Daisy Jones (Keough) who is matched with the band The Six
Decades later, the band reunites to tell the full story of how the band ‘imploded at the height of its powers’
Pictured (left to right) in 1977: Fleetwood Mac band members Stevie Nicks, Lindsey Buckingham, Christine McVie, John McVie and Mick Fleetwood get ready to perform on stage
She specifically wanted to capture the dynamic between lead singers Stevie Nicks and Lindsay Buckingham in her two lead characters, Daisy Jones and Billy Dunne.
While their incredible chemistry catapulted Fleetwood Mac into the top of the charts, their passionate and at times toxic relationship ultimately lead to the band’s demise.
Jenkins Reid has also drawn inspiration from other rock ‘n’ roll legends like Joni Mitchell, Cher, Stevie Nicks, Linda Ronstadt, Jimi Hendrix and the Eagles in writing the novel.
The series explores solo artist Daisy Jones (Keough) who is matched with the band, The Six. Together, they become a huge hit soon after their formation in the 1970s, but with success comes complications that eventually cause the band to split.
Decades later, members of Daisy Jones & The Six reunite to tell the full story of how the band ‘imploded at the height of its powers.’
Here’s a guide to the cast of Daisy Jones & The Six and the characters they play.
Rebellious singer Daisy Jones who gets caught up in the rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle is played by Riley Keough
Daisy Jones (pictured left) is the wild-at-heart singer who joins forces with The Six to shoot to stardom played by Riley Keough (pictured right)
Keough plays the show and band’s frontwoman, Daisy Jones. In the novel, Daisy is a rocker at heart who was brought up with wealthy-yet-distracted parents in the Hollywood Hills.
She first fell in love with music after meeting musician Simone Jackson while sneaking out to a rock concert.
Inspired by the disco star, she writes her own music and soars as a solo artist.
Eventually, music producer Teddy Price matches her with blues-rock band The Six for a collaboration.
While she and the band’s singer-songwriter Billy Dunne butt heads at first, they end up becoming a dream team and form undeniable chemistry.
However, her rebellious nature and struggles with drug and alcohol abuse eventually cause tension with the group.
Initially, Daisy soars as a solo artist but ends up joining forces with The Six where she reaches true stardom
Daisy joined The Six in a similar way that Stevie Nicks joined the band Fleetwood Mac and catapulted it to success
Even though Keough had never sung before, she took on the role and was honored to play a part that some feel she was ‘born to play’
Keough addressed Daisy’s wild side and the many layers that went into portraying it.
‘In the book, she’s messy and she’s unpredictable and she’s wild,’ Keough told TODAY. ‘But I also wanted to figure out who she is underneath all of that.’
Keough has her own connections to the music industry. Her grandfather, Elvis, was the king of rock ‘n’ roll himself.
She shared that people have ‘asked if she was born to play this role’ due to her famous connection. While she doesn’t consider herself a ‘singer,’ it didn’t cause her to shy away from the role.
‘Everyone keeps on asking me if I was born to play this role because of my family,’ she told Vanity Fair.
‘And honestly, I was born to play every role that I’ve played so far. I took this role because I’ve been wanting to sing, since I had never sung before.
‘I worked really hard and put in a lot of hours for a year and a half. It wasn’t an overnight kind of thing.’
Daisy Jones (pictured left) has been compared to Fleetwood Mac’s lead singer Stevie Nicks (pictured right)
Keough, pictured with late mother Lisa Marie Presley in 2022, said her mom was an ‘inspiration’ in life and for shaping this role
Thankfully, she also received plenty of support from her famous family to take on the role of her singer. She received approval from her late mother, Lisa Marie Presley, before she passed away unexpectedly in January.
‘She was so excited. I was worried, and she really supported me,’ Keough told People. ‘There were some really challenging songs, and she helped me focus and believe in myself.’
Keough even admitted that she sees plenty of her mom in her character, Daisy.
‘My mother is certainly an inspiration to me,’ the actress said to People, calling Lisa Marie ‘a very strong, smart woman.’
‘I was raised by somebody who did their own thing and didn’t really care what other people thought. She was definitely inspirational to me,’ she continued.
‘I think just women who were liberated were inspiring to me,’ she added.
Her character has also drawn comparisons to the lead singer of Fleetwood Mac, Stevie Nicks.
Like Nicks, Daisy joined an already-formed band and helped it climb the charts.
According to executive producer Reese Witherspoon, she has nailed the rock star legend persona.
‘She’s very quiet and soft-spoken in real life, and she really transformed herself and brought such rock star energy’ to the series, Witherspoon said.
‘She utterly transforms when she gets on the stage. It’s like watching a butterfly emerge from a chrysalis.’
Wild child-turned-family man Billy Dunne who co-created The Six is played by Sam Claflin
Sam Claflin (pictured right) plays the wild child-turned-family man, Billy Dunne (pictured left). Billy formed the band with his brother, Graham
Sam Claflin plays The Six’s OG frontman, Billy Dunne. Billy initially formed the band with this brother, Graham, who is the lead guitarist.
In the novel, the singer-songwriter had a less glamorous upbringing than Daisy and was raised in Pittsburgh by his single mom.
He has the charm of a rock star but gave up the wild lifestyle of drugs after marrying Camila and having their first child, Julia.
At the point that Daisy joins the band, he and Camila have three children. However, his stage chemistry and complicated relationship with Daisy has Camila questioning his fidelity.
Jenkins Reid has explained that the nature of their relationship was inspired by a moment she witnessed between Fleetwood members Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham as they performed.
Sam has the charm of a rock star but gave up the wild lifestyle of drugs after marrying Camila and having their first child
Daisy Jones & The Six (pictured left) is based loosely on the dynamic of Fleetwood Mac’s Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham (pictured right)
Claflin called Billy the ‘most daunting role’ he has ever had to play
She explained during an interview with the TV series’ production company, Hello Sunshine, that she was watching the band perform Landslide when she witnessed a raw moment between the rock stars.
‘For one split second — truly, a slice of a moment — Lindsey put his fist under his chin and looked at Stevie as if she was a miracle.
‘And I thought, “Oh, they’re in love with each other.”
‘I did not think it in any sort of revelatory way. It didn’t even seem like that big of a realization. It just seemed obvious. Like saying, “This water is wet.”
‘He was clearly madly in love with her. And the way she smiled back at him, the way she seemed so comfortable in his gaze, she must love him, too,’ she explained.
However, Jenkins Reid came to learn that while they had dated, they were no longer together during the time of the performance which ‘completely defied logic’ to her.
That moment is what came to her when she decided to write a novel about the rise and fall of a rock band.
‘I kept coming back to that moment when Lindsey watched Stevie sing Landslide,’ she revealed.
‘How it looked so much like two people in love. And yet, we’ll never truly know what lived between them. I wanted to write a story about that.’
‘I felt like I really understood my character,’ Claflin said of playing Billy
Billy was partially inspired by the Fleetwood Mac vocalist Lindsay Buckingham, pictured with Nicks in 1998
He also modeled the role after American music legend Bruce Springsteen
Claflin connected to the role of Billy quite easily.
‘I felt like I really understood my character. We went through a lot of the same issues—not through the addiction side, but the struggle of juggling work and family life,’ he told Vanity Fair.
He continued: ‘His fear of failure is something that I can relate to. He’s human, and I just want to make sure that people understand him.’
Claflin, however, had another music icon in mind when it came to playing Billy: Bruce Springsteen.
‘I don’t know that I can sort of say I channeled him much on stage but I did my best,’ he told TODAY.
While he connected to the role emotionally, there were physical obstacles that he had to overcome.
‘This is the most petrified I’ve ever been about a role, and I think it’s partly because I knew how far I had to come,’ Claflin told InStyle.
‘I was so out of depth.’
For instance, he had never played the guitar before playing this role and the British actor had to work on developing an American accent.
‘I’d wake up in the morning, go straight to the studio and learn guitar for an hour, then I’d go for a costume fitting,’ Claflin said of his daily schedule.
‘I’d have an accent lesson with a speech and dialect coach, then I would probably record a bit or go and practice,’ he added, which he claims left him ‘absolutely knackered.’
‘I’m shocked that they saw something in me, honestly,’ he admitted, referencing the first vocal tapes he had sent the creative team.
‘I think the one thing I will say is that I’ll forever be grateful for the belief the producers and the music team had within me,’ he added.
Revolutionary keyboardist Karen Sirko who was one of the first female rockers is played by Suki Waterhouse
Karen Sirko is a revolutionary for her time as one the first females in a rock band and is played by Suki Waterhouse
Suki Waterhouse plays Karen, the keyboardist of The Six.
Karen was seen as a revolutionary for being one of the first female rockers in a time where women were only beginning to seek opportunities outside of the traditional gender norms.
She is staunchly against having a family and the notion of being trapped into the housewife lifestyle, which was a bold stance to take during that time.
She’s in a relationship with Billy’s brother and the band’s co-founder Graham, but they choose to keep their dating status under wraps.
‘She has a lot of internal struggle. She’s very determined to not have a family,’ Waterhouse told Us Weekly of Karen’s decision to keep her relationship with Graham private.
‘And those things are very acceptable to say now, but in that time period you’d be up against that and fight against society even more,’ she explained.
Waterhouse was so inspired by her character, Karen, that it encouraged her to record her own music and go on tour
If Karen were to be compared to any members of Fleetwood Mac, it would be Christine McVie, who also played the keyboard and accordion
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