There's nothing funny about Merritt Wever dating an abusive duck on 'Roar' — and that's the point

• Merritt Wever plays a woman charmed by a duck in the new Apple TV+ anthology series "Roar."

• The relationship takes a dark turn, telling a powerful story about intimate partner abuse.

Merritt Wever plays a woman dating a duck in the new Apple TV+ series "Roar," and while the concept is funny, the story is not.

The eight-episode anthology series is based on a collection of short stories by Cecelia Ahern. It includes fantastical elements and moral arguments that stitch together to form a feminist quasi-"Twilight Zone." Each episode is a separate, unconnected story, anchored by a female character. Alison Brie, Cynthia Erivo, Betty Gilpin, Issa Rae, Fivel Stewart, and Nicole Kidman, who also serves as an executive producer, star in each of the other installments.

For Wever, the gig was not a hard sell. In a recent interview with Insider, the actress recalled the creators of "Roar" asking if she wanted "to come do an episode about a woman who's in an emotionally abusive relationship with a duck." Her immediate response? "Definitely."

In Wever's episode, called "The Woman Who Was Fed By a Duck," the titular duck gaslights, negs, and terrorizes Wever's character, Elisa, who is studying for her medical school admissions test (the MCAT). He echoes her self-doubts and attacks any perceived weakness.

Working with an animal was a new territory for Wever. "Everybody ended up having different ideas of what the duck represents, why it has to be a duck," she told Insider.

"I thought it was an interesting, different way to tell a story," she added. "I certainly haven't gone to work working with or speaking to a talking animal before." She was excited by the fact that she "didn't know what that would be like."

Creating a familiar dating dynamic through such a bizarre storyline required some faith that the show's audience would "get" what the writers were trying to say to them.

"I had to kind of trust the intent of the people that I knew were making it, my own intention, and decide to just wade into this situation and hope that if I played it honestly, then the people watching would understand it," Wever said. "I think there's something worthwhile in doing something different or something that you haven't done before."

Of course, even though the subject matter was surprisingly dark, there were plenty of light-hearted moments working with the animal on set that Wever appreciated during the dark times of the pandemic.

"There's a scene where the duck is following me and I turn around and the duck was a lot closer to me than I'd expected," she recalled. "And I definitely shrieked like an old lady or something."

"It afforded me one of I think the biggest and best laughs I'd had in about 12 months," she added.

The episode's comedic imagery illustrates how intimate partner abuse can progress overtime. Eventually, the mental abuse from the duck becomes physical. It isolates her by criticizing her existing interpersonal relationships, which is a common abuser tactic that, as Wever put it, "tethers you more and more to the person you're in a romantic relationship with as opposed to the rest of the people in your life."

The duck also takes advantage of her inability to be heard by her sister, who Elisa FaceTimes regularly but rarely has deep talks with. Elisa's sadness is hidden in their interactions. "It's hard to have difficult conversations with people you're close to," said Wever.

"She gets cut off from the other people in her life, from her life purpose. She starts to doubt what she wants to do. She starts to doubt her goals, her ability, you know, her own mind," Wever added.

According to the CDC, about one in 4 women and almost one in 10 men have experienced "contact sexual violence, physical violence, and/or stalking by an intimate partner during their lifetime," and over 43 million women have been subject to "psychological aggression by an intimate partner."

The episode's writing integrates telltale abuser signs like tossing insults, name-calling, and damaging property. The episode's powerful message is made clearer by Wever's commitment to taking the material seriously.

She played the role straight, allowing the audience to see the creature's intentions clearly. She approaches the on-screen meet-cute with the duck, who is voiced by Justin Kirk, with the same flirty energy reserved for wingless suitors. The interest on her face makes the dynamic seem more familiar than bizarre. She told Insider she worked on "looking at the animal and talking to this thing that is alive and is listening to me and moving and watching me."

"The challenge as an actor always comes back to the same one as any job, which is to make something as honest and believable as you can," she said.

All eight episodes of "Roar" are now streaming on Apple TV+.