UPtv invites viewers into the charming world of Sugarcreek Amish Mysteries, its all-new original series premiering Thursday, April 23 at 9 p.m. ET, led by actress Galadriel Stineman, whose compelling body of work-from The Middle to Ben 10 and Until Dawn-brings warmth, nuance, and emotional authenticity to the role of Cheryl Cooper, a woman seeking a fresh start in an Amish community only to find herself drawn into unexpected mysteries, deepening relationships, and a journey toward rediscovering purpose, belonging, and love.
Ahead of the premiere, we sat down with Stineman to discuss her connection to the role, the heart behind the series, and what audiences can expect as Cheryl's story unfolds.
Watch the trailer here.
Q: For viewers who may be discovering you for the first time, how would you describe yourself as an actress, and what drew you to the role of Cheryl Cooper in Sugarcreek Amish Mysteries?
For viewers who haven't seen my work before, I have been in the business for almost two decades. I started out as a teenager, acting in some rom-coms like these, but I'm best known for my role as Cassidy Finch on The Middle. The superhero movie Ben 10 was a big role of mine, and a lot of people recognize me from the PlayStation video game Until Dawn, among some other things.
What drew me to the role of Cheryl Cooper in Sugarcreek Amish Mysteries? Well, that was-let's see, I've lost count. I think Cheryl is probably my fifth or sixth character in an Amish project. Somehow, since 2017, I've become a little bit of the uncontested queen of Amish movies, and that's partly due to the amazing production team that specializes in this genre and our fearless leader, Siobhan O'Shaughnessy. It's an honor.
What I love about Cheryl Cooper is that she came along around the time my family and I were thinking about relocating from Los Angeles to a much smaller town in northern Kentucky, near Cincinnati, Ohio.
Q: Cheryl arrives in Sugarcreek after a failed engagement and soon finds herself drawn into solving mysteries within the community. What aspects of her journey of reinvention and belonging resonated most with you personally?
As a character, Cheryl was going through the same thing I was. Am I gonna miss anything if I'm in a smaller place, and is this loud, crowded town for me anymore? She was trying to find a community just like her.
Cheryl arrives in Sugarcreek after a failed engagement and, as I mentioned in the previous question, is seeking community. The concept of family, both born and chosen, really resonated with me as something I had been searching for and finding. Funny enough, it paralleled the real city of Sugarcreek because the community there was so welcoming and warm, and we spent a few months there. It really reflects the true place.
I think fans will want to know that Sugarcreek is not only a real place they can visit, but also every bit as warm as the show, with a lot less crime and mystery.
Q: The series blends cozy mystery with the warmth of an Amish community setting. How did you approach portraying a character who begins as an outsider but gradually becomes part of this close-knit world?
I think it was easy for me to approach playing a character that started as an outsider before becoming a part of this close-knit world because taking on this role was around the time when I was trying to find that myself.
My husband and my children have only ever lived in Los Angeles before we made this move. I felt a big responsibility in taking them away, hoping it was right, and just trying to adjust our priorities to enjoy things a little bit in a slower way of life. That's something I really admire about the Amish community.
I've gotten to know a lot about their world over the past nine years since I got involved in Amish projects. Community comes first, and judgment is left for a higher power. You can always ask your neighbors for help, and they'll always show up.
I think that in a big city, it's easy to avoid asking for help and to do everything on your own. Finding that sense of community and opening up to let people in has been really amazing.
Q: Sugarcreek Amish Mysteries is based on the popular Guideposts book series. How did you balance honoring the spirit of the books while also bringing your own interpretation to Cheryl Cooper on screen?
It is such an honor to be chosen to play not only the lead of the series but also an iconic character.
I found it interesting because the books are written by a series of authors who often rotate. Author "A" will do one, Author "B" will do one, Author "C" will do one, and it'll repeat. What you get are many different voices telling the same story. But it also really showed me a lot of different shared roles, and I feel like it almost gave me more options, seeing how we were connected and how we were different.
I always want to make sure I'm never making fun of any character I play, no matter how well or poorly I connect with what they're going through. I didn't find this to be a challenge with Cheryl because the struggle of finding one's own identity, figuring out where you belong, and how much of your heart to listen to rather than your head is a universal one. How much should you listen to other people over your inner voice? I think everyone can relate to that. It felt pretty easy to slip into Cheryl.
Q: The show highlights themes of faith, friendship, and second chances. What do you hope audiences will take away from Cheryl's story and the relationships she builds in Sugarcreek?
What I hope audiences will take away from Cheryl's story is the relationships she builds and the experiences that nudge her to mend broken fences with neighbors by knocking on their doors to get to know them.
I think the fear of the unknown and the way technology is, it encourages us to be isolated, and that's not what we were meant to do. Not everyone in this show is an Amish character. There isn't as much dependence on the outside world. It feels small and close, and that sense of community is really strong.
I remember growing up in the nineties, having to check in at dark and knocking on my neighbor's door to offer them the extra cookies I made. I think we can all use a little bit more of that because I think everyone wants it, but it's easy to not notice how gradually it can get replaced by Facebook and things like that.
Q: As the mysteries unfold each week, what can viewers expect from the upcoming season in terms of character development, new challenges, and Cheryl's evolving sense of home?
Obviously, I don't want to give away too much. Cheryl is still having the dust settle around her as the series gets going, since moving from Chicago, and she's used to that kind of lifestyle. Things haven't slowed down enough for her to think about her long-term plans and figure out what it's all going to mean.
I think a lot of these films have characters leaving the big city for a small town. It's become almost a cliché, but in this case, Cheryl's life in Chicago was really fleshed out. We know a lot about her past relationships, romantic relationships, and less about her work. She's less interested in talking about her work, but she loves discussing the food she loves there. We get a greater sense of who she was in Chicago during this season, along with who she's finding herself to be in the present.
I think what's cool is that Cheryl will see that she doesn't have to change to be in a place like Sugarcreek. It brings out different colors in her that get dimmed when everything around her is noisy and when her buddy is constantly focused on her work.
The biggest challenges are going to be Cheryl finding her place and not upsetting the law enforcement too much with her meddling. It feels like Scooby-Doo with the meddling kids. Trying to figure out how she fits into this Amish world-where her friends and this beautiful man, who has piqued her interest, is Amish-is a challenge, especially since she doesn't feel called to convert.
I think what's wonderful is that in every episode of season one, a different character will help her along the way, almost like she has a different guide in each episode, bringing out a different part of her personality and part of her inner conflict. Whether it's romantic, crime-related, or part of her journey to figure out her faith, season one has a lot going on for Cheryl.
I'm really excited for everyone to see what we did, and for people who love the books, hopefully they feel like it not only honors what they love about the novels but also lets them see everything even more deeply than they could have gotten from the books.
