Britt Robertson Brings Optimism to Legal Dramas in ‘For the People’

Tonight, Shondaland will be getting even bigger with the premiere of ABC’s For the People. The drama stands as creator Shonda Rhimes‘ second legal drama behind the ever-thrilling How to Get Away with Murder. Set in the Southern District of New York Federal Court, the series follows a crop of new lawyers as they take on some of the most high-profile and high-stakes cases in the country.

There’s a lot of How to Get Away with Murder‘s DNA baked into For the People. Though the series lacks the guiding and morally ambiguous tentpole that is Annalise Keating (Viola Davis), the series dives into something that its murderous sister show often glossed over — the sheer panic that accompanies inexperienced lawyers trying to take on new cases. It’s thrilling in the same way Rhimes has mastered portraying professionals who are extraordinarily good at their jobs.

However, one of the highlights of this engaging and cutthroat legal drama has to do with its leading character — Britt Robertson‘s Sandra Bell. Robertson is likely best known for starring in Tomorrowland and The First Time, but she recently made headlines for her leading role on Netflix’s Girlboss. The one season semi-autobiographical comedy about Nasty Gal founder Sophia Amoruso had a lot of problems. The pacing was a bit too forced, and Sophia as a character toed the line between being scrappy and selfish far too often. However, Robertson was made this inconsistent show work more often than not. The actress infused Sophia with a constant desperation and flighty sense of insecurity that made Sophia far more complicated and interesting than some women who made a lot of money selling secondhand clothes.

It was a great performance in a so-so show, which is why it’s so exciting to see Robertson in For the People now. Sandra is many of the same things Sophia was — ambitious, stubborn, smart — but there’s also an underlying sweetness to this young lawyer and a strict sense of morality.

“I think she’s a very optimistic person in terms of the world, and I think she’s fighting for good, and I think she really does believe in what she’s doing,” Robertson said after a For the People panel at the Television Critics Association’s winter 2018 tour. “But it’s also really realistic, and [she] understands it’s not always going to be a win-win situation. It’s going to be about making the best of her situation.”

Robertson also teased that this season viewers would see Sophia butting heads with her boss of a fairly regular basis. “She’s someone who wants to get ahead by maybe putting herself in a position that maybe she’s not totally comfortable [with] or in her wheelhouse necessarily. She’s able to show her boss that she’s in the right place and that she’s hired for the right reasons,” she said.

Robertson came to the project three weeks before For the People started filming. Though she didn’t shadow any actual lawyers, she did hire a researcher for the project. “She did all of the research for me, and she would send me articles, and she would send me different podcasts and clips. We all shared information so that we all had as much information as we need,” she said.

For the People premieres on ABC tonight at 10 p.m. ET with new episodes every Tuesday. 

Stream For the People on ABC