‘A Much Bigger Challenge’: From Embers Cast on 2024’s Most Emotional Movie (2025)

The holiday season is typically a time for reflection, which is what From Embers is all about. The movie is a bittersweet exploration of loss and truth, as Lily must grapple with the loss of her husband and its effect on their family, while also trying to piece together what happened on the night he died. But what is mournful and intense also has notes of hope and healing -- as well as a phenomenal cast at its core.

CBR spoke to From Embers stars Kara Wang (Top Gun: Maverick), Matthew Morrison (Glee), Kathryn Morris (Cold Case) and Kayla Bohan about the movie. The actors revealed how the script allowed them to expand beyond some of their best-known roles and character types, and why they fell in love with it. Plus, find out the moments that touched them the most.

CBR: From Embers has a lot going on in it, from the themes of loss and parenthood to the mystery around Ron's death and Lily trying to solve it. What part of the movie did each of you connect to?

Kara Wang: I personally was excited about taking on the character of Lily, because it's very different than who I am in real life. In real life, I'm single, I don't have kids, and to be able to take on the challenge of playing a mother -- especially mother to a child who has autistic disorder syndrome, was really a great challenge for me.

Matthew Morrison: I just really connected to it. I loved the character of Marty. I loved the nuance of the whole movie. I think it's about finding new connection after loss, but realizing that sometimes the connection we think will heal us is built on shared trauma, and that's not always the most healthy foundation. I thought it was a really interesting story to to tell.

Kayla Bohan: I was so drawn to my character, because I am basically my character. Chloe, she's a positive character. She tries to help people. And I feel like I'm like that in person, as well. I thought it'd be such a great idea to play a character that's similar... But also because I wanted to act with more of my favorite actors.

Kathryn, that question goes double for you in particular, because audiences knew and loved you so much as Lilly Rush in Cold Case. Angela, your character in From Embers, couldn't be more opposite to Lily. Was it rewarding to defy viewer expectations like that?

Kathryn Morris: it was nice to play something different. I'm often the hero, and it was just great to be on the support side. I love [From Embers writer-director] Kara [Bohan]. I thought she's a huge, gigantic star, and I love her smoky laugh. I had fantasies Matthew and I would play guitar, and he'd teach me how to play like "Hotel California," and I'd get a callous on my finger from learning to play guitar. [Laughs.] That never happened, but yeah, it was nice to play the other person.

Matthew, to Kathryn's point, audiences are going to be pleasantly surprised by Marty -- especially because there's an element of music with his storyline. They're going to expect Glee and get something much more complex, so how fun was that for you?

Morrison: That's my favorite thing to do. That's when I feel like I really am an actor... I usually try to find projects that are not musical-based, just because of my musical history. But I think such a driving point of this movie was the connection that music has between my character and my daughter. Music bonds so many people, and I think that was such a pivotal part of this movie.

Kara, you were in one of the biggest blockbusters in recent memory with Top Gun: Maverick. That's a technically complex, huge film, but From Embers has you front and center, and it asks a lot of you. Was this a bigger challenge, even though it was a smaller movie?

Wang: Absolutely. I would agree with that. On Top Gun, I shot close to eight months, and there were a lot of things that were involved in the training of that. It was really cool to get to learn how to fly a plane, and things that people could say were once in a lifetime.

But when it comes to character development -- really digging in deep and getting to understand a character, to transform into a character -- this was by far a much bigger challenge. And it was a great opportunity. I was glad I got to have the opportunity to play a character who was more complex, more three-dimensional, and got to carry the film.

What were some of your favorite scenes in From Embers, either on set or to watch as a viewer?

Bohan: It was the scene where Angela and Ron were fighting in the lab. I was literally on the edge of my seat because [of] the music and everything, I was like oh my God, this is giving me chills. That was by far my favorite scene in the whole movie.

Wang: My favorite scene in the movie is actually a happy moment for Lily. For most of the film, she is very downtrodden. She is on a mission. She is struggling. She is trying to survive and make a better life for her son. But there's a scene where Matthew's character takes me out on a date. It was really fun to shoot, and it was very fun to see on screen, because I think it's one of the rare moments in the film where you see kind of a shadow of who Lily used to be, before a tragic incident happened.

Morris: I also loved the date; that was just so dreamy. On a more subtle level, I loved seeing some of the scenes with the children -- with Kayla and with [actor] Alexander Lee. I'm a parent to twin boys with autism spectrum. They're doing phenomenally well, and we have a lifestyle brand called The Savants, so I loved watching the sweetness and the honesty that just happened in the moment between Kayla and Alexander. It was just so beautifully done.

Morrison: I loved watching the kids as well. It was really inspiring to see their journey and their pain, and to move further into that... The pain of watching your child grow up in another man's house, under another man's influence, is so raw and real in this film. And I think it's about navigating that grief while trying to remain a father. But the father-daughter bond in this story in particular, it's the innocence in her eyes that keeps him grounded, even when his whole world is crumbling.

From Embers is now streaming on Prime Video, and is also available on Blu-Ray and DVD.

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From Embers

Drama Thriller

Release Date

November 22, 2024

Runtime

99 minutes

Director

Kate Bohan

Cast

• 

  Matthew Morrison

  Marty Baker

• 

  Kara Wang

  Lily Xu

• 

  Kayla Bohan

  Chloé Baker

• 

  Kathryn Morris

  Angela

From Embers follows Lily as she copes with the loss of her husband Ron, while raising their son Kevin. Moving into a new apartment, she discovers unsettling truths involving Ron's death and uncovers corporate intrigue, patent theft, and deception with the help of his co-worker, Angela.

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