'Rabbit Hole' star Meta Golding smashes TV thriller, while pushing for complex women stories

Making her mark in thrilling TV dramas, Meta Golding stole the show in Kiefer Sutherland's most recent series Rabbit Hole (full season available to stream on Paramount+).

“She just kind of popped off of the page for me,” Golding said about playing Hailey in the show. “I love that she's funny and strong, and uses her whole self in everything."

"I just thought she was a really, really fun and interesting character.”

The concept of Rabbit Hole is that nothing is as it seems. Very reminiscent of Sutherland's famed show 24, in Rabbit Hole the Canadian actor plays data analyst and corporate espionage expert John Weir. Set in New York (but filmed in Toronto), things get complicated for Weir when he's framed for murder.

While Hailey initially seems like just a one-night hookup for Weir, she quickly finds herself in the middle of this conspiracy, and Weir's mission to finding out the truth.

“Kiefer gives 1,000 per cent and I think because he gives so much, … it gave me even more permission to give it all back to him, 1,000 per cent more,” Golding said.

When asked about filming the show in Toronto, the actor said she loves the "fantastic" city.

“Great crew, made lots of friends and what I really appreciated about the city was just how diverse it is," Golding said.

“I ate good food, but also, there were just so many different types of people living in Toronto. … We were just coming out of the pandemic so there was just this joyfulness there. … Every weekend there was a festival on a different corner celebrating a different ethnicity. I had a great time there."

'More women, not just the top 1.1 per cent of actresses, are getting to play complex characters'

Golding can also be seen in shows like Empire and Criminal Minds, in addition to playing Enobaria in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire and The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2. But when it comes to what gets her excited about a possible new role, Golding is looking to play "a full human being."

“What really jumped out for me in [the Rabbit Hole] script is that in the end, Hailey felt multi-layered and you get to see many different sides of her," Golding said. “It’s certainly not always the case being a woman, and a woman of colour, but what I'm looking for is to play full, multi-dimensional characters."

"I like that Hailey is a full person and we get to see where she comes from, and we get to see a whole human being, not just one-dimensional. At first I thought, ... 'OK she's the love interest.' … There's nothing wrong with being the love interest, but you get to see a fully fleshed out human being."

Reflecting on where we are at this point for women, particularly women of colour, getting opportunities to play dynamic, fully realized roles, Golding says we're "making strides."

“When I look at a show like Yellowjackets, and it's basically all women, young and older women, I jumped for joy," she said.

"I think more women, not just the top 1.1 per cent of actresses, are getting to play complex characters, but it's moving towards more fleshed out and complicated characters for women, and more female leads as well.”

A point of inspiration for Rabbit Hole was the 1975 thriller film Three Days of the Condor, but Golding also highlighted the differences between Faye Dunaway's character and Hailey in the Paramount+ series.

"She's still Faye Dunaway and it's a very stylish film, but my criticism of that is if you look at her role ... there's a big difference with what a character like Hailey gets to do," Golding said.

While Golding is very passionate about playing Hailey, another impactful role for the actor was playing Rosa Parks in the 2018 movie Behind the Movement.

"That was just such an honour,” Golding said. “Just stepping into someone who changed history and had this amazing ability to encourage, and be an activist and educate people, and this amazing spirit, was a highlight for sure.”

But there's another historical figure Golding would love to play, revealing it's alway been her "dream" to play Cleopatra.

“A woman in ancient time, who is a political leader, is fascinating, and her power is fascinating," she said.

"There's so many myths and stories. There's a legend of Cleopatra. ... It's one of the oldest stories that we've heard over and over and over again about femininity, and about femininity and power. I think that's really interesting.”