Diksha Sundriyal
Based on the book series of the same name by Holly Smale, Netflix’s ‘Geek Girl’ follows the story of Harriet Manners, a neurodivergent girl bullied at school for being different. While she has supportive parents and a best friend who is always there for her, Harriet feels like she doesn’t belong anywhere. When her every misstep and mistake is used by her bullies to make fun of her, she falls further into a spiral. But then, she is discovered by a modeling agent, who gives her the opportunity to turn around her life.
For Wilbur Evans, Harriet Manners brings something fresh to the table. It is hard to point out, but he knows there is something different about her, and it is not just limited to her appearance. Eventually, Harriet creates a signature look for herself, and her red hair becomes one of the things that set her apart. This, however, is not the real hair color of actress Emily Carey.
Emily Carey Doesn’t Have Harriet’s Red Hair in Real Life
In ‘Geek Girl,’ Harriet has her trademark strawberry blonde hair, which was given to her by Holly Smale, the creator of the character. The author loosely based the character on herself, and her own hair color factored into Harriet’s appearance. Because the creators of the show wanted to present Harriet from the books as authentically as possible, they put out a call for naturally redhead actresses for the role. Actress Emily Carey, who eventually bagged the role, revealed that she had been a bit skeptic about getting cast because she doesn’t have naturally red hair.
Carey is naturally brunette and has dark brown hair. However, this difference didn’t deter her from auditioning for Harriet, whom she was keen on playing because she was a fan of the ‘Geek Girl’ books and wanted to be a part of that world. When she was cast for the role, she knew she would have to morph into the character. For this, the top of her hair was dyed red, while a U-part wig was used most of the time as Harriet has pretty long hair while Carey’s hair is a bit short in comparison.
The use of the wigs brought Carey closer to feeling like Harriet and helped her embody the role with all her fears and insecurities. One would think that constantly wearing the wig for almost the entirety of the series would feel a bit uncomfortable for the actress, but Carey is no stranger to wearing elaborate wigs for a role. She had previously worn several wigs for her character of a young Alicent Hightower in HBO’s hit ‘Game of Thrones’ spinoff, ‘House of the Dragon.’ As opposed to Carey’s dark brunette hair, Alicent has long reddish brown hair tied up in elaborate hairstyles. It becomes easier to work with wigs in such cases and helps the actors dissociate from themselves and become one with their character on a greater level. It worked for Carey while playing Alicent, and it also worked while bringing Harriet to life on the screen.
Read More: Geek Girl: Is Harriet Manners Based on a Real Fashion Model?
