The world of Palm Royale was turned upside down with a classic soap opera twist, and the person most surprised by it was the actress at its center. Kristen Wiig had to tackle a first in her career in the latest episode of the Apple TV+ series: playing twin sisters. The reveal that her character, Maxine Dellacorte-Simmons, has a long-lost twin named Mirabelle sent shockwaves through the show’s storyline and posed a unique acting challenge for its star.
In the sixth episode, titled “Maxine Finds Herself,” Maxine returns home to find a woman who looks exactly like her passed out on her couch. This woman is Mirabelle, a sister she never knew existed. The twist quickly complicates Maxine’s already messy life, which includes a rocky separation from her husband Douglas, played by Josh Lucas, and her ongoing mission to infiltrate Palm Beach’s most elite club.
For Kristen Wiig, this meant the difficult task of creating two distinct characters who share a face. She openly shared that the experience made her very anxious.
“I was really nervous about it because I didn’t know how to make her different but the same,” Wiig explained. “But we just really leaned into the absurdity of it, and I think that helped”.
The episode blends high-society drama with espionage, as Maxine is also tasked by a federal agent to help find a suspected Russian operative connected to a local mobster. Mirabelle’s sudden arrival throws all these plans into chaos.
The Challenge of Acting Opposite Yourself
The technical and creative process of playing twins was entirely new for Wiig. She described filming scenes where she had to interact with herself as a “weird” experience. To achieve the effect, the production used a stand-in actor wearing a wig to play one sister while Wiig played the other. They would then film the scene again with the positions swapped, allowing Wiig to perform opposite her own character.
Wiig’s main concern was ensuring Maxine and Mirabelle felt like completely different people to the audience. While they look identical, their personalities are not. Mirabelle arrives with a serious drinking problem and a chaotic past, having been raised by the parents who abandoned Maxine. She is more rough-edged and impulsive, a stark contrast to Maxine’s calculated social climbing.
“I’ve never done that before, so it was a little weird to do scenes with myself,” Wiig said about the filming process.
The goal was to make the audience believe they were watching two separate individuals, despite knowing the same actress played both roles.
Inspiration from Classic Television
The surprising twin storyline did not come out of nowhere. Showrunner Abe Sylvia drew direct inspiration from classic television shows, specifically the sitcom Bewitched, which famously used twin characters. The show even includes a clip from Bewitched in the episode as a nod to this inspiration.
Sylvia explained that the twist emerged from asking a deeper character question: what would it mean for Maxine to meet a version of herself she might not want to be?
“If our show is about identity and how women define themselves… what if Maxine actually did find some family?” Sylvia said of the writers’ room discussion.
This idea of exploring identity and family history became the emotional core of the episode, using the over-the-top device of a secret twin to ask serious questions about who Maxine really is.
A Dramatic Turn of Events
Mirabelle’s entrance has immediate and dramatic consequences. Mistaken identity drives much of the episode’s plot.
- Douglas Confesses to the Wrong Sister: In a pivotal moment, a distraught Douglas, believing Mirabelle is Maxine, confesses that he is still in love with his ex-wife. This leads to an intimate encounter between Douglas and Mirabelle.
- A Fight with a Mobster: Later, Raquel, the partner of mobster Pinky, also mistakes Mirabelle for Maxine. A physical fight breaks out between the two women, which ends with Mirabelle tying Raquel up and stealing a valuable ledger containing financial records.
- The Handoff: Mirabelle gives this ledger to Maxine, providing her with the evidence needed to potentially take down Pinky. It is a rare moment of the sisters working together.
However, the episode takes a dark turn. After giving Maxine the ledger, Mirabelle is later found dead, face-down in the pool at the Palm Royale club. The scene suggests a case of mistaken identity, as Mirabelle was wearing an outfit similar to Maxine’s at the time. The episode ends on a cliffhanger, with Maxine witnessing her friend Evelyn standing over Mirabelle’s body but choosing to stay silent and be pulled away from the scene, allowing everyone to believe it is Maxine who has died.
Showrunner Abe Sylvia described this violent shift as intentional, moving the series into darker territory inspired by 1960s psychological thrillers often called “hag movies”.
“The way that it ends, is much darker than we’ve gone before… to murder her at the end of it is quite cruel of us,” Sylvia stated.
How to Watch
New episodes of Palm Royale Season 2 are released weekly every Wednesday exclusively on Apple TV+. The season is currently airing and is scheduled to continue until January 14.
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