The twisty Netflix thriller Fool Me Once is a Harlan Coben adaptation primarily revolving around murder, conspiracy, and war crimes. However, one of its most human subplots involves Abby, the niece of the protagonist Maya Stern. Abby’s mother, Claire Walker, was murdered in an apparent home invasion before Season 1 began, but while her story is integral to the plot, Abby’s surprising discovery about Claire’s past and her subsequent quest to find her half-brother is one of the show’s more small-scale and human matters that builds to a nice, positive payoff.
Who Plays Abby in Fool Me Once?
The character of Abby is played by the relative newcomer, seventeen-year-old Danya Griver. She plays Abby in the eight-episode series, who is on her own mission to find out the secrets of her mother’s past.
Fool Me Once’s Abby Explained
Abby spends the entirety of Fool Me Once believing that there is something amiss about the circumstances of her mother’s death. She’s right, but what she inadvertently discovers during her investigations is that Claire was hiding details about her past, including another child fathered in a previous relationship.
Abby is alerted about this relationship when she and her brother, Daniel, find an old camera in Claire’s belongings. They get the film developed, and one of the photos shows that Claire was pregnant in 2003. Since this doesn’t match up with Abby’s birth year, it’s apparent that she had another child that nobody knew about.
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Using the photos Abby and Daniel are able to track down Claire’s ex and presumed baby-daddy, Alexander Dosman, who runs a tech firm called Bimbal. When Abby confronts him, he tells her about the circumstances of his relationship with her mother but is surprised to learn she was ever pregnant with his child. He knew nothing about the kid.
Through a DNA testing app, Abby is able to get in contact with her half-brother, who reveals himself to be Louis, the assistant coach on her football team. Louis got the job to try and get closer to Abby and Daniel with a mind to eventually introduce himself to them after Claire’s death. Louis had already met Claire, but unbeknown to him she had used him to investigate a posh all-boys academy connected to Maya’s husband Joe.
Louis is well-intentioned but a little hopeless. Later, Abby’s father Eddie invites Louis to the house so they can all meet each other properly, and the experience is positive for everyone. Eddie also offers to introduce Louis to Alexander, though we don’t get to see how this pans out.
What is Danya Griver Known For?
As Danya is still very young, she does not have a huge catalog of work, but she will certainly secure more after her role in Fool Me Once. If you are a fan, you will be able to find her in a couple of short-form features, 2013’s Working Late and 2015’s One Behind. In 2021 she would appear in the long-running series Malory Towers, set in post-WWII Britain, and based on the stories by Enid Blyton.
In an interview with the BBC, Danya would talk about her experience of playing the spoiled and irritating character of Gwen in that series and would talk about how overjoyed she was when she got the role:
I was totally delighted and, honestly, when my parents first told me I just couldn’t believe it! I laughed, cried and then I was just stunned for a bit!! It certainly took a few days to sink in!
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