Hannah Waddingham does not appear to have an off switch. In the past few weeks, she’s walked red carpets on several continents, sat for a stack of press junkets and is now juggling two major show launches and a new beauty campaign—all seemingly at once.
The first act is Ride or Die, Prime Video’s new action-comedy series in which Waddingham stars opposite Octavia Spencer, and executive produces alongside her. Waddingham plays Judith Burton, a woman who has spent 25 years posing as a “mind-numbingly dull” forensic accountant while secretly working as one of the world's top assassins, known in the field as Whiptail. When her best friend of two-plus decades, Debbie (Spencer), finally discovers the truth, the two are forced on the run together across Europe.
Waddingham didn’t just play the part—she fought for it, literally. “I really hit the ground running with the stunts,” she says proudly, although she admits when she jumped on the Zoom to first chat about the part, she hadn’t “entirely read the whole email” regarding what the script entailed.
“Subliminally, the audience sees me fight a lot in the first few episodes, whether it’s unarmed combat or with a gun. I ’m not going to lie, it’s been intense. I did them back to back, pretty much. It was like Dancing With The Stars—finish one on a Friday, learn another one at the weekend, shoot another one on the Monday. I was really wrong out...but, when I watch it back, I’m really proud of it. They all look pretty epic.
“Can I also point out I’ve never done stunts like this before? I’m almost in one piece. I’ve got scars and everything...that’s my badge of honor.”
The show’s opening sequence, filmed at the top of a mountain in Austria, is Waddingham herself, no stunt double in sight. As creator Tessa Coates puts it: “There’s no reason it needed to be Hannah, but Hannah said, ‘No, it’s going to be me.’”
It's that physicality that showrunner Matt Miller says was imperative for the role to work. “Hannah has a physical confidence to her where you actually believe she's an assassin, which is a tall order,” he says. “That part can't feel forced or fake, or the whole show falls apart. You need to buy that.”
Waddingham has her own theory on why it's resonating. “Of course, there are a million action-drama-comedy things out there...so many things about two women being funny with each other, or two women who are perimenopausal and menopausal. There’s things with guns, things with cars, clever espionage—all of that. I was concerned. I thought, how is all of that going to fit in one pot and each of those things find its moment? But it does, in every single episode.”
At the same time, the actress is stepping back into the Emmy Award–winning role she never really left behind: Rebecca Welton, the AFC Richmond owner in Ted Lasso, which returns for a fourth season this fall. This time, Ted (Jason Sudeikis) returns to coach the club’s women’s team, and Rebecca—alongside Keeley (Juno Temple) and Higgins (Jeremy Swift)—is behind the push to grow the women's game.
Rebecca’s own storyline gets more complicated, too, as her long-distance relationship with Matthijs starts veering toward something more permanent. “We’re three years into Rebecca and Matthijs’ relationship,” says Waddingham. “They’ve been having a great time, but he’s starting to nudge it toward something more—and Rebecca’s asking herself whether she wants that.”
Waddingham reflects that returning to the character came with an unexpectedly emotional realization. “We’re all so close that I never really missed anyone,” she says of the cast.
“But it made me realize the only person I didn’t get to be with anymore was Rebecca,” she continues. “There's something very strange about missing a character that only exists when you’re embodying them.”
Between an assassin thriller, a beloved ensemble comedy and other exciting projects in the queue, it’s fair to say Waddingham is having a moment, and now she’s bringing some of that same energy to skin care.
The actress has just signed on as the face of Paula’s Choice’s new Pro-Collagen Peptide Plumping Intensive Moisturizer ($49), the brand’s sixth peptide-powered launch and second moisturizer in the category. And, after a year of throwing punches on camera, there’s a lot of Waddingham's strength and stamina woven into the launch.
The rich, cushiony formula is powered by the brand's 3x Pro-Collagen Peptide Complex, which is paired with red micro-algae extract to help trap water at the skin's surface, and a moisture-locking lipid technology designed to reinforce the skin barrier. Paula’s Choice says the cream keeps skin feeling hydrated for up to 120 hours, with the goal of skin that looks instantly plumper and smoother, and gets better at holding onto moisture over time.
“I am absolutely delighted to partner with Paula’s Choice,” says Waddingham. “I love a skin-care product that delivers on what it promises, and this formula provides deep, comforting hydration while leaving skin looking plumper, smoother and more replenished. It's high-performance skin care that makes a noticeable difference and has quickly become a favorite part of my daily routine.”
Also part of that daily routine: Waddingham’s young daughter, who she says deserves the credit for all of it. “She’s always watching—and I’m always remembering that.”
