Suki Waterhouse On Karen Sirko's Ending in 'Daisy Jones & The Six'

Warning: Spoilers for Daisy Jones and The Six are ahead.

Suki Waterhouse knows what people are saying about her wig on Prime Video's adaptation of Daisy Jones and the Six.

The transformation replaced Waterhouse's signature honey blonde blowout with an icy platinum bob, which was meant to age her character, Karen Sirko, keyboardist of fictional ‘70s band The Six. Based on the Taylor Jenkins Reid novel of the same name, the miniseries takes the format of a musical documentary, with the former band members reflecting on their infamous breakup decades after the fact. In this case, the Debbie Harry-esque hairdo is aptly period appropriate for the ‘90s-era rock star Karen eventually becomes, even if some fans are giving Waterhouse “quite a lot of ribbing” for the beauty evolution.

“But, I love it,” Waterhouse affectionately tells BAZAAR.com of fans' reactions to the show. “It's so fun. I just love looking at all of that stuff. I love reading it. I love watching people's reactions to surprises.”

The reactions are aplenty, considering the diehard fan base of the Taylor Jenkins Reid cinematic universe, whose characters frequently make cameos across multiple novels, like in Malibu Rising and The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo.

Waterhouse, too, was among the masses of Daisy Jones fans prior to getting cast. The former runway muse-turned-bonafide pop star, who released her first album last year, is no stranger to starring in beloved book-to-screen adaptations, having previously appeared in Love, Rosie and The Divergent Series: Insurgent. But, this project in particular meant something special to her.

“It was just a big fat yes for me,” she says. “It's not very often where you get an audition and you see that one of your favorite books is being adapted into a TV show, Reese Witherspoon's gonna produce it, you're gonna have to go to band camp, learn your instruments, become a band, [and] travel back to the ‘70s in Los Angeles. I mean, I was a huge fan of every element of this project.”

Nina Westervelt//Getty Images

This convergence of the perfect conditions for viral, bingeable TV also meant that a huge amount of pressure would weigh on the entire cast, which also includes Riley Keough, Sam Claflin, and Camila Morrone. Besides the anxieties that come with filming a show faced with three years worth of pandemic-related delays, they also knew that vigilant fans would likely regard any creative liberties taken from the sacred source material as sacrilegious.

But, even as a fan of the book herself, Waterhouse wasn’t worried about the script’s tweaks.

“Whenever you are adapting a book, obviously there's a feeling that you wanna do the book justice and you have fans of the book that already love the characters that you're playing. It's a heavier responsibility,” she explains. “As actors, you have to trust in the script. I think there should be changes and liberties taken in adaptations. It's such a different format to make a TV show than it is to write a book.”

Waterhouse took a hands-on approach when it came to shaping Karen’s on screen look. The novel describes the keyboardist’s sense of style as understated, with Karen often gravitating towards jeans and turtlenecks, an attempt to control the way she’s perceived in a male-dominated industry. In the show, her turtlenecks remain sleek and polished—but they also glitter.

“I slightly rejected the idea that just because she was highly ambitious and so dedicated to her art and didn’t wanna have some of the conventional things that you would expect a woman to want in the ‘70s—I didn’t want that to mean that she couldn’t wear some fucking eyeliner,” Waterhouse says. As the band becomes more successful, Karen’s style naturally evolves with their growth. “We wanted to keep her sharp and collected,” she adds, “but I didn’t want her to not have a flair just because she was different.”

Suki Waterhouse as Karen Sirko in Daisy Jones and The Six.

Whatever physical changes she may have brought to Karen, the actress stayed true to the character’s essence. In her research of real-life ‘70s artists, she looked to figures like punk rock pioneer Patti Smith and The Pretenders frontwoman Chrissie Hynde, both of whom flouted the establishment in search of a more fulfilling life that rejected patriarchal standards and ideals.

Karen, too, takes this route. Unabashedly certain of the talents she brings to the table, she is the novel’s de facto feminist figurehead, an indomitable force in the face of misogynist bullshit. After The Six contracts a band manager who wants to update their image, ‘90s-era Karen reflects, “Rod told me to wear low-cut shirts. I told Rod to eat shit and that was that."

Karen is also very clearly a fictitious rendering of Christine McVie of Fleetwood Mac, the band that inspired Jenkins Reid to pen Daisy Jones to begin with. In some ways, Karen’s story arc mimics the wildly successful, childless lives of McVie and fellow Fleetwood Mac member, Stevie Nicks.

Waterhouse’s performance reaches its emotional peak in the show’s last few episodes. In the midst of a passionate and clandestine relationship with The Six guitarist, Graham Dunne (Will Harrison), their love story gets a reality check when Karen discovers she’s pregnant. Graham is overcome with joy at the announcement, and mistakenly suggests that the band can find a new keyboardist.

“[She’s furious] that he would think that she could be replaced when this has been her sole dream, and he’s known that,” Waterhouse says. “She made it very clear from the beginning that she didn't want [children]. She definitely didn't wanna be pregnant and not be able to be on tour and pursue those dreams.”

It gets more complicated when Karen has to factor in his feelings.

“Even though he's being completely misogynistic and kind of despicable in that moment, he's also very sweet and vulnerable,” says Waterhouse. “That's one of the hardest things that she has to deal with, is this beautiful man that's in love with her and wants to give her his whole self in the best way that he knows how, also just not seeing her as a human in that moment. It's incredibly frustrating for her and it's a thing that I don't think we're ever gonna not have to deal with as women.”

Will Harrison as Graham Dunne and Suki Waterhouse as Karen Sirko in Daisy Jones and The Six.

In the penultimate episode, Camila Dunne (Morrone), the wife of The Six frontman Billy Dunne (Claflin), drives Karen to a clinic, where she ultimately gets an abortion. Waterhouse appreciates the portrayal of the two women’s profound friendship, despite their foundational differences.

“Camila is the opposite to Karen. [Motherhood] was always gonna be something that she was just naturally inclined to do,” the actress explains. Still, “there isn't a judgment between the two women on this decision. Camilla knows what's right for Karen and she's just there to support her and hold her hand when Graham isn't able to do that. … The way that she's able to show up for Karen reminded me of the many times that women have showed up for me in my life when a partner hasn't been able to.”

The abortion devastates Graham. He lashes out at her with cruel, unforgivable words (any woman who has deigned to assert her own independence may recognize the familiar sting when Graham taunts Karen with, “You’re gonna be alone forever. You know that right?”). But, when faced with the possibility of a future without her, he back steps. He can eschew kids and marriage and the house with the white picket fence—so long as she loves him, too. She tells him she doesn’t.

“The decision that Karen makes is one out of love,” Waterhouse explains. “One of the most heartbreaking and difficult decisions that I think a person can make is knowing when to let somebody go.”

In the end, they both get what they want. Graham leaves the band, only to meet his eventual wife and start a family. As for Karen? “I wanted to be a rock’n’roll star, to travel the world, and play music for strangers,” she says in the final episode. “And that’s what I did. It’s what I still do.”

Waterhouse performs onstage in February 2023.

Karen’s relentless commitment to her craft resonated with Waterhouse, who ended up recording I Can’t Let Go, her debut studio album, while filming Daisy Jones. Though by no means a novice in music (Waterhouse has been releasing instantly viral singles like “Good Looking” and “Johanna”” to legions of loyal fans since 2016), she honed in on her musical work with renewed passion. After filming wrapped, Waterhouse joined as the opener for Father John Misty’s tour of North America. Currently, she’s in the midst of her very own solo tour across the U.S.

“When I got cast in the show, I didn't have a label or an album,” she says. “By the time the show came out, I had done, like, 70 shows.”

Waterhouse thanks Karen for that inner shift of courage that allowed her to at last unleash I Can’t Let Go. “There was something about Karen's fearlessness about going after her passions that pushed me to finally go and make the album that I wanted to make,” she says. “And, now, I get to play piano at my own shows.”

As an associate editor at HarpersBAZAAR.com, Chelsey keeps a finger on the pulse on all things celeb news. She also writes on social movements, connecting with activists leading the fight on workers' rights, climate justice, and more. Offline, she’s probably spending too much time on TikTok, rewatching Emma (the 2020 version, of course), or buying yet another corset. 

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