Rose Byrne Reveals the TV Role That Deserved More

Australia’s reputation for producing world-class talent is well established, with its actors regularly making waves far beyond their home shores. While the likes of Margot Robbie and Hugh Jackman have become household names, Rose Byrne has quietly built a career marked by remarkable range. From horror flicks to comedies and even superhero epics, she’s managed to slip between genres with ease. In 2025, she turned heads with her performance in the psychological drama If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, but it’s not just her recent work that lingers in her mind.

During a recent conversation, Byrne took a moment to reminisce about a particular project that, in her view, never quite got its due. The series in question? Damages—a show that, for many, sits just outside the pantheon of television’s so-called golden age. As Byrne put it,

“Damages is fascinating, because we came out the same year as Mad Men. Shortly after that was Breaking Bad. HBO had set the bar with The Sopranos and Six Feet Under. It was the beginning of this ‘golden age of TV’ and prestige television. And I look back now and think, ‘Wow, what a time to be launching that show!’ People derive a lot from that show! A lot of shows after were Damages-lite, and it never got the credit.”

Prestige TV’s Overlooked Contender

First broadcast on FX in 2007, Damages cast Byrne as a young lawyer learning the ropes under the formidable Patty Hewes, played by Glenn Close. Each of the five series revolved around a single, complex legal case, with the shifting dynamic between the two leads at its heart. The show attracted critical praise and a steady stream of high-profile guest stars, yet it never quite managed to break into the upper echelons of television’s most celebrated dramas.

Part of the reason, perhaps, lies in its structure. With each series dedicated to a single storyline stretched across up to 13 episodes, viewers who failed to connect with the opening instalment were unlikely to stick around. Sustaining interest in one narrative thread for that long, only to abandon it the following year, proved a challenge for many. Ratings, strong at first, began to falter as the show progressed, and it quietly slipped from the spotlight.

Timing, Structure, and the Gender Question

There’s more to the story than just format, though. Byrne herself points to the timing: launching alongside the likes of Mad Men and Breaking Bad meant competing with a new wave of prestige dramas that quickly captured the public’s imagination. Yet, unlike those series, Damages placed two women at its centre—a rarity at the time. Byrne notes that every other show she mentioned featured predominantly male casts, while Damages dared to do things differently. The industry, and perhaps audiences too, weren’t quite ready to take such a show seriously. Attitudes have shifted somewhat since 2007, but the landscape was far less welcoming back then.

Despite never achieving the mainstream acclaim Byrne hoped for, the series has maintained a loyal following. More than a decade after its final episode aired, it continues to spark conversation among those who remember its sharp writing and tense performances. That, in itself, is no small feat.