Lena Headey Talks About ‘The Purge’

Lena Headey, best known to legions of Game of Thrones fans as Cersei Lannister, stars as a wife and mother who’s forced into defending her home against psycho killers in The Purge. And in this interview courtesy of Universal Pictures, Headey discusses the appeal of The Purge, her reaction to the script, and her character’s arc.

The Plot:

If, on one night every year, you could commit any crime without facing consequences, what would you do?

In an America wracked with crime and overcrowded prisons, the government has sanctioned an annual 12-hour period in which any and all criminal activity – including murder – becomes legal. The police can’t be called. Hospitals suspend help. It’s twelve hours when the citizenry regulates itself without thought of punishment. On this particular night in 2022, plagued by violence and an epidemic of crime, one family wrestles with the decision of who they will become when a stranger comes knocking.

When an intruder breaks into James Sandin’s (Ethan Hawke) gated community during the yearly lockdown, he begins a sequence of events that threatens to tear his family apart. Now, it is up to James, his wife, Mary (Lena Headey), and their kids to make it through the night without turning into the monsters from whom they hide.