With its sweeping story of power, legacy, and family intrigue, Steven Knight’s House of Guinness is already shaping up to be one of 2025’s most anticipated dramas.
Ahead of its launch on Netflix today, Extra.ie caught up with Niamh McCormack and Seamus O’Hara, who play siblings Ellen and Patrick Cochrane in the series, to talk about the unique challenge of building a believable brother-sister bond on screen.
The actors revealed that their history together off-screen made the process surprisingly natural.
‘Well, we were very lucky that we had worked together before and half of the job was kind of done already, because we’ve spent many a time together and I think we went for pints. We went for pints of Guinness and just had a chat about our family lore,’ McCormack told Extra.ie.
O’Hara echoed the sentiment, recalling how their friendship began years earlier on a different project.
‘So Niamh and I had worked with each other before on a movie called Dungeons and Dragons, and we had the best time of our lives,’ he began.
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‘And there was a little group of us, and we all became really close friends on that job, and it’s a friendship that we’ve kept up. And then when we heard we were both on this job together and also playing brother and sister, and we were delighted. So straight onto the phone, what are you reading? What are you reading? Let’s meet for a pint. Let’s talk.’
For McCormack, the pre-existing trust between them made portraying a family dynamic effortless. ‘There was a lot of trust already there for us.’
Set in 19th-century Dublin and New York, House of Guinness explores an epic story inspired by one of Europe’s most famous dynasties — the Guinness family.
The series begins in the aftermath of Sir Benjamin Guinness’s death, which sets in motion a dramatic chain of events for his four children; Arthur, Edward, Anne, and Ben. and the Dubliners whose lives are inextricably linked with the iconic brewery.
Created and written by Steven Knight, the eight-part series boasts an impressive cast including Anthony Boyle as Arthur Guinness, Louis Partridge as Edward Guinness, Fionn O’Shea as Benjamin Guinness, James Norton as Sean Rafferty, Dervla Kirwan as Aunt Agnes Guinness, Niamh McCormack as Ellen Cochrane, Danielle Galligan as Lady Olivia Hedges, Seamus O’Hara as Patrick Cochrane, Michael McElhatton as John Potter, and Hilda Fay as Sultan.
Produced by Kudos and Nebulastar, with executive producers Karen Wilson, Elinor Day, Steven Knight, Martin Haines, Tom Shankland, and Ivana Lowell, the series is helmed by directors Tom Shankland (block 1) and Mounia Akl (block 2), with Cahal Bannon serving as series producer and Howard Burch as producer.
House of Guinness is available to stream now.
