‘Say Nothing’ Creatives Discuss the Show’s Emotional Ending: “TV Can Be a Social Good”

Writer Josh Zetumer and director Michael Lennox talk about filming sensitive historical moments and trying to draw attention to the “Disappeared” with their FX true-crime limited series.

In his 2019 book Say Nothing, journalist Patrick Radden Keefe put forth a potential answer to one of the Troubles’ lingering mysteries: Who killed Jean McConville?

The author laid out a case for a conclusion that he came to after years of reporting: that Provisional Irish Republican Army volunteer Marian Price fired the bullet ultimately killing the single mother of 10 and one of Northern Ireland’s “Disappeared.” (Price said in a statement after the release of the book that she “vehemently denies” the allegations.) Accused of being an informant for the British Army during the period of sectarian conflict, McConville had been abducted from her Belfast home in 1972 by members of the IRA and killed. After decades of searching, her remains were finally discovered on a beach in Ireland in 2003. Three years later, the police ombudsman for Northern Ireland released the results of an investigation finding there was no evidence that McConville was a British informant.

In the final episode of FX’s Say Nothing adaptation, show creator Josh Zetumer and episode director Michael Lennox adapt this part of Radden Keefe’s reporting in an emotional scene filmed on a beach in the south of England. The creatives depict Dolours Price (played by Lola Petticrew), Marian Price (Hazel Doupe) and Pat McClure (Martin McCann) deciding to take turns firing shots, with Marian Price’s shot ultimately killing McConville.

In a finale-focused interview, the two creatives discussed what it was like to film that “harrowing” scene on the beach, the series’ depiction of Dolours Price’s death and how the idea of “the destructive power of silence” animated the finale.

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Josh, you previously told THR that with each episode you explore a certain theme. I’m wondering if you can explain the theme in this final episode.

JOSH ZETUMER There’s really a lot going on in the finale, so it is hard to distill it down into just one thing. I think if I was going to do it, I would probably talk about the idea of silence, and particularly the destructive power of silence that surrounds the IRA and IRA activity. For Dolours in particular, you have this woman who’s done these things and who’s now not allowed to talk publicly at all about what she’s done, because of the culture of silence surrounding the IRA. And the same thing is true for the victims: They fear IRA retaliation if they speak out in any way. So this idea that not talking about the things that were done during the conflict could lead to all of this unprocessed trauma, not just for the victims, but also for the perpetrators, was the thing that I personally really wanted to explore.