‘13 Reasons Why’ Preview: How the Cast Dealt With Such a Heartbreaking Story

Fans of Jay Asher’s bestselling young adult novel Thirteen Reasons Why will understand why adapting the book as a Netflix series might have been an emotionally challenging experience for the cast portraying doomed high school student Hannah Baker and the friends and classmates who factor into her tragic suicide.

Australian actress Katherine Langford makes her screen debut as Hannah in the intense, wonderfully affecting 13-episode series premiering March 31. In the video above, she tells us she looked to the series’ lighter moments — thankfully, there are some — and to her co-star Dylan Minnette, who plays Hannah’s friend Clay Jensen, to keep her sane during the six-month production.

“It gets a bit hard, especially when you’re so intimate, and you’re dealing with that kind of content, to separate and lighten up,” Langford says. “[But] every scene I had with Dylan, it’s the same on-screen as it is off-screen — he’s lovely and generous and caring, and he always puts a smile on my face. That’s where I find the lighthearted moments, and that’s where Hannah finds the lighthearted moments, with Clay.”

13 Reasons Why premieres March 31 on Netflix.