Yes, Noma Dumezweni Has Seen Your Undoing Memes

Something specific happened that made actor Noma Dumezweni realize just how much Haley Fitzgerald, her character in HBO's hit series The Undoing, was resonating with viewers: She came across a meme that positioned Haley, Olivia Pope (Scandal), and Annalise Keating (How to Get Away With Murder) as a new power trio. 

Oh, she's gone into cultural history, Dumezweni remembers thinking. “I'm just overwhelmed with how people have met Haley,” she tells Glamour. “They really responded to her.” 

It's a reaction Dumezweni hadn't quite experienced in her career before. Though she played Hermione in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, which earned her a Tony nomination, theater work doesn't exactly attract the same kind of attention as a buzzy drama starring Nicole Kidman and Hugh Grant. “I've had more conversations in this last week than I have in ages,” she says. “It's fascinating.”

The second that high-powered defense attorney Haley Fitzgerald appeared on The Undoing, people were obsessed. And for good reason: The character—stoic, strong, and successful—builds Jonathan Fraser's (Grant) airtight defense case after he's accused of murdering his lover Elena Alves (Matilda De Angelis). Everything's going according to plan; Haley has expertly “created muck” around the case, as she aptly puts it, to build reasonable doubt. But then—spoiler—Jonathan's wife, Grace (Kidman), takes the stand. Haley thinks it's to testify on Jonathan's behalf, but it ultimately proves his guilt. 

“Episode six was humbling for Haley,” Dumezweni says. “She was hustling, and then it's all going wrong because you realize the mistake she's made by putting Grace on the stand.” 

The moment was a fluke for Haley—something totally out of her control. Grace took the stand under false pretenses: She said it was to prove Jonathan's innocence, but she knew the prosecution's questions would do the opposite, which is exactly what she wanted. It isn't really a professional failing on Haley; in fact, she's arguably the most intelligent, skilled lawyer depicted in pop culture in quite some time. 

And powerful people have taken notice. “Sherrilyn Ifill [the president and director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund] tweeted how much she liked Haley Fitzgerald,” Dumezweni says. “For me, that's when I went, ‘I’m done.’ That's great. What I've found is that a lot of Black women really resonate with Haley. I'm so grateful.”

Dumezweni thinks this could be for several reasons. “Her mind, her humor, her expertise,” she tells me. The lack of Black women on TV like Haley might have something to do with it too. “We have the 10 separate versions of a white male lawyer. Our heroes are usually the straight, white males. When Scandal came out and I learned it'd been created by a Black woman, that blew me away.” 

She continues, “[Director] Steve McQueen said something along the lines of, ‘We will know when things are equitable because we as Black people will be allowed to fail.’ Now we're still unicorns, so when you see a woman like Haley in a very white world doing what she's doing, people go, ‘Hello. Who’s she?’”

Ifill wasn't the only woman Dumezweni admires who noticed Haley. “Props to the amazing Noma Dumezweni for a FIRE performance,” tweeted Lindiwe Mazibuko, former leader of opposition in the parliament of the Republic of South Africa. “Give @MissDumezweni ALL THE THINGS for #TheUndoing. She is absolutely mesmerizing,” MSNBC contributor and Undistracted podcast host Brittany Packnett Cunningham wrote, to which Dumezweni replied, “I fangirl EVERYTHING About You!"

“Haley's sense of speaking truth to power, for me, I think is the biggest thing I hope viewers see,” Dumezweni says. “If I tie that in with the people who have acknowledged Haley who I think are amazing: They speak truth to power. I think that's what they recognize in Haley.” 

Dumezweni wants viewers—Black women in particular—to find this in themselves, as well. “In a post–George Floyd world, for me as a Black person, I do feel I will move through the world in a much more different way than I would've in January or February,” she says. “All shields are down now. Be vulnerable. Be honest. Speak what you need to say. I'm looking forward to that experience going forward in the world because I think a lot more people are feeling that way.” 

Becoming this self-assured isn't easy, of course. Dumezweni admits even she suffered from intense impostor syndrome at times on the Undoing set. “There was a day where I thought I was going to be fired,” she says. “I thought I was that bad. I'd just gotten in my head they'd chosen the wrong person. I was like, ‘I’m a theater actor. I'm working with Donald Sutherland, Nicole Kidman, and Hugh Grant.’

“I went home and cried and thought I'd fucked it up,” she continues. But the father of her daughter helped change her perspective. “We're doing the coparenting thing, and I was explaining the situation. I said, ‘The woman who's directing recently did Bird Box [on Netflix].’ He went, ‘What? That was great. Oh, Noma, step up your game.’ It was someone saying, ‘Come on, stop being self-pitying. You can do this.’ We both started laughing.” 

Dumezweni vows to never feel like this again on future projects. “There was a bright new day a few days later going, ‘Oh, I do know what I’m doing,’” she says. “‘It's okay. Let go of that fear. Let's do the work.’” 

So what will that future work be? Well, she stars in an upcoming series for HBO Max called Made for Love alongside Cristin Milioti and Ray Romano—but what about a second season of The Undoing?

“A second season doesn't work because we've done it,” she tells me. “That was the story we told, based on Jean Hanff Korelitz's novel. That was the book.” 

As for a Haley-centric spin-off, that's something she might be open to. “What I love about my job is I do get to meet other characters,” Dumezweni says. “I do get to meet other people. What other opportunities are coming in terms of storytelling? I'll never say never.”

And she does have some requirements, should a spin-off come to fruition: “[Show writer] David E. Kelley would have to write it. [Show director] Susanne Bier would have to direct it. If someone offers it to me, I'll think very deeply about it.” 

For now Noma Dumezweni is looking forward—while still trying to wrap her head around Haley fever. “I finished this job in June of last year and I've let go of Haley,” she says. “But I've rediscovered her in the watching and reactions of other people. And that has been so humbling.” 

Christopher Rosa is the staff entertainment writer at Glamour. Follow him on Twitter @chrisrosa92.