Camila Morrone is a woman of mystery.
Between a lead role in The Night Manager’s long-awaited second season and starring in Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen, a twisty horror series executive-produced by the Duffer Brothers (Stranger Things), the self-proclaimed “loudmouth” was terrified she might expose tightly guarded plot points. “I’m not good at keeping secrets!” she says. “I want to share everything with everyone.”
In The Night Manager, Morrone plays cunning businesswoman Roxana Bolaños opposite Tom Hiddleston’s (Loki) seasoned spy. Even now, with the entire six-part season streaming on Prime Video, she is reluctant to talk about many of the surprise twists. She spent months afraid she’d reveal the return of actor Hugh Laurie (Tehran), whose character was thought to be dead at the end of the first season. “Luckily, no one asked me,” she says. “If they had, I think I would have just blacked out.” Equally challenging was playing Rachel, a young bride-to-be carrying a family curse in Something Very Bad. The eight-episode Netflix limited series, which stars Adam DiMarco (Overcompensating) as Rachel’s fiancé, Nicky, is Morrone’s first foray into horror. “I’d admired it from afar, but I’m easily scared,” she says, crediting creator and showrunner Haley Z. Boston (Brand New Cherry Flavor) with expanding her perception of what the genre could be. “Horror doesn’t have to be just blood and guts and gore. It’s elaborate, with so many different tiers and levels. I think some of the best filmmakers are working in the genre.”
With only a short break between the two projects, the Los Angeles native says moving from Roxana’s world of cartels and arms-dealing to Rachel’s paranoid, interior world was an emotionally taxing journey. “I think of myself as being really good at letting go of characters,” she says. “But living in this state of life and death really creeps up on you.” While she always sheds a tear on her final day of shooting, she lost all composure when Something Very Bad wrapped. “I have some funny photos of me just inconsolably crying on set.”
Morrone auditioned for both roles, noting she’s “had to fight” for many of the parts she’s booked — even after receiving an Emmy nomination for her role as a long-suffering spouse in Daisy Jones & the Six. She says that recognition was extremely validating. “It felt like a warm hug,” she recalls. “After years of trying to show people I was diligent and serious about acting, and that I don’t take this craft lightly, it felt like a nice pat on the shoulder. Like I was on the right track.”
This article originally appeared in emmy Magazine, issue #7, 2026, under the title "On to Something."
