Kate Winslet, a name synonymous with powerful performances and unflinching portrayals of complex women, has found herself back in the spotlight—this time, not only for her own acclaimed turn in HBO’s Mare of Easttown, but also as her daughter, Mia Threapleton, steps confidently into the world of acting. As of September 16, 2025, Mare of Easttown enjoyed a resurgence on HBO’s top ten U.S. chart, landing at number nine, according to FlixPatrol. The show’s renewed popularity comes as streaming audiences rediscover the gripping crime drama that originally aired in seven weekly episodes from April to May 2021.
In Mare of Easttown, Winslet embodied detective sergeant Marianne "Mare" Sheehan, a weary but relentless investigator tasked with solving the murder of a young girl while still haunted by an unsolved missing person case. The fictional Easttown is a small town with big expectations, and Mare’s struggles—both professional and personal—anchor the series in a raw, authentic reality. The show’s ensemble cast, featuring Jean Smart, Angourie Rice, Guy Pearce, Cailee Spaeny, Evan Peters, and Julianne Nicholson, helped bring depth and nuance to the story. Yet, it’s Winslet’s performance that critics and fans alike have singled out for praise.
According to Rotten Tomatoes, Mare of Easttown boasts a stellar 94% audience score and a 95% critic score, reflecting the consensus that this is a crime drama with staying power. The series’ creator, Brad Ingelsby, and director Craig Zobel, crafted a narrative that is as much about the burdens of small-town life as it is about the mechanics of a murder investigation. Winslet’s Mare is a character who, as the actress herself put it in an interview with Vanity Fair, “can’t apologize for who she is. She’s just too tired. She’s got too much to do. She’s just got to keep going. As a woman, sometimes there’s nothing else you can do but just keep going. That resonated with me.”
Winslet’s commitment to the role extended far beyond memorizing lines. She immersed herself in police procedure to the point where it became second nature, and the emotional toll of playing Mare left its mark. “I could cook meals, but I couldn’t really settle in myself,” she confessed to Vanity Fair. “It was really not very nice for people around me.” The depth of her investment was recognized by the industry, earning her the Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series.
Despite the emotional cost, Winslet hasn’t ruled out returning to Easttown. In a September 2025 conversation with Entertainment Weekly, she teased, “[Series creator] Brad [Ingelsby] has shared some very cool ideas. We will see what happens. I also have to figure out if I can do it. Can I go through it again? It did cost me a lot emotionally to be her, and I have to figure out if I can summon it all up again and do it again. It was a ride, that’s for sure.” For now, fans can revisit Mare’s journey on HBO Max, where the series continues to attract new viewers.
While Winslet’s professional achievements are familiar to many, her daughter Mia Threapleton is quietly forging her own path. At 24, Mia is determined to build her acting career on merit rather than her mother’s reputation. In a candid interview with The Sunday Times, she recalled first expressing her interest in acting at age 10, catching Winslet off guard. “I remember her being quite caught off-guard, going, 'Oh, really? OK,'” Mia said. But it wasn’t until she was 15 that she began auditioning in earnest, using online casting websites to find roles. “I wanted to do that on my own,” she explained, addressing inevitable questions about nepotism. “You can’t choose your parents.”
Mia’s upbringing, it turns out, was far from the Hollywood stereotype. According to US Magazine, she rarely visited film sets as a child, and scripts weren’t scattered around the house. Acting wasn’t a constant topic at home, and Mia insists her childhood was “a big misconception” compared to public assumptions. “I can count, probably on one and a half hands, the amount of times that I did that [visit a film set] as a child,” she shared.
Despite her independence, Mia has always found Winslet to be a supportive presence. The advice was practical and to the point: “Read the damn script as many times as you can.” Winslet emphasized the importance of hard work, a lesson Mia has taken to heart. “She always—I mean, always—emphasized the hard work that goes into it,” Mia told The Sunday Times.
Mia’s breakout moment came with her roles in The Buccaneers and Firebrand, but perhaps her most emotional performance to date was in 2022’s I Am Ruth. In this drama, she acted alongside her mother, portraying a mother-daughter relationship fraught with tension and vulnerability. Many of their scenes were improvised, leading to intense, sometimes overwhelming moments on set. “It was quite frightening at times,” Mia admitted to DailyMail, describing the challenge of sharing such heavy scenes with her real-life mother. Winslet, ever the grounding force, would remind her, “We can’t be sad all the time. We have to be able to come home and have a lovely cup of tea and a biscuit.”
Recognition for Mia’s talent has followed. In 2025, she received the Breakout Artist Award at the Newport Beach Film Festival, a testament to her skill and perseverance. Her journey, while reminiscent of Winslet’s own early rise, is distinguished by her insistence on doing things her way. As US Magazine put it, Mia is proving she’s “more than just Kate Winslet’s daughter—she’s a star in her own right.”
The parallel successes of Winslet and Threapleton—one a seasoned veteran, the other a rising star—offer a compelling portrait of artistry, resilience, and individuality. With Mare of Easttown enjoying a second wind and Mia’s career gathering momentum, it’s clear that talent, not just legacy, is the true currency in this family.
Whether or not Mare returns for another season, and whatever roles Mia takes on next, the Winslet-Threapleton story continues to captivate audiences, reminding us that the best performances are born from both hard work and heart.
