Liv Hewson On How Their New Role Cleverly Blends Trauma & Comedy

He Had It Coming is the brainchild of Gretel Vella and Craig Anderson — it was a project that began as a horror film before being cleverly reimagined as a half-hour whodunit comedy. It’s deliciously bingeable and stars a predominantly Australian cast, including Liv Hewson (Yellowjackets), Natasha Liu Bordizzo (The Voyeurs), as well as a cheeky little cameo from Aussie heartthrob, Cody Simpson. What makes the show truly stand out is its rare ability to balance dark subject matters with razor-sharp humour — walking that fine line without ever tipping into tonal chaos.

The show follows the unlikely pair, Barbara (Lui Bordizzo) and Elise (Lydia West), who, in a drunken burst of rebellion, transform the campus quadrangle with a spontaneous piece of feminist art, boldly painting the words “Kill All Men”. By morning, they wake to a shocking scene: the university’s star rugby player has been murdered, castrated, and dumped atop their artwork. Suddenly, the pair are thrust into a chaotic quest to unmask the killer and, as Elise puts it, “put the lid back on Pandora's box of gender politics” they’ve inadvertently unleashed.

Vella and Anderson were drawn to the idea not just because it was fun, but because it offered a way to spotlight the very real issues playing out on Australian campuses. The concept originally came to them after speaking with women who had experienced sexual assault, where they noticed how much laughter and camaraderie helped them navigate those traumatic experiences. 

“In real life, just like in the show, comedy and laughter are crucial to how people work through traumatic experiences,” Liv Hewson, who plays Detective Shepherd, a young cop driven to tackle the rampant violence and entrenched sexism on campus, tells Refinery29.

It’s a balance the creators lean into on purpose, using comedy not to soften the blow, but to spotlight the real, messy resilience that comes from going through trauma. "Craig and Gretel were really struck by how often women would use humour, especially together, when talking about violence and sexism on campuses. Laughter becomes this way of processing what’s happened and connecting with each other, and that dynamic sits at the heart of the series,” Hewson continues.

What’s striking about the show is how it tackles gender politics by turning traditional societal conventions on their head. Men are the ones who are terrified of women, leading them to start their #MeToo moment. It’s a twisted, almost fantastical look at what happens when the tables are turned and women hold the power.

“Despite its humour, Craig and Gretel approached the story with the seriousness it deserves,” says Hewson. “By highlighting both the humour and humanity in these experiences, they’ve made the show darkly funny and deeply moving.”

Each episode has its delightfully unhinged moments, but it’s the blend of genres and the sharp comedic edge that gives the show the lightness it needs. “For us, and for the world of the show, that was always in the back of our minds: treating the subject matter with the seriousness it deserves, while also acknowledging that humour and lightness are the other side of that coin."

There are very few shows that can make you laugh while touching on such dark themes as they bubble under the surface. He Had It Coming is that rare gem that does. It is quintessentially Australian, yet universally appealing. The characters feel like a warm hug: viscerally real, delightfully over-the-top, and consistently funny throughout all the episodes.

As Hewson puts it, “The show really has its way with you. It’s funny, then it’s sad, and then suddenly you’re learning something. It’s the kind of show you watch and have a great time with, and then three months later you’re sitting with your coffee thinking, ‘Huh… there was a message in that.’ That was the aim, to give people the laugh first, and then the realisation underneath it. A little ‘gotcha.’”