Some people get dropped into chaos. Others open the door, set out snacks, and light candles for it. In City on Fire, Chase Sui Wonders’ Sam is the latter—an “agent of chaos,” as she puts it, while Wyatt Oleff’s Charlie is just trying to stay upright after she gets shot in Central Park. Not your average meet-cute.
“She's kind of sniffing around where she shouldn’t be,” Wonders says. “That bullet doesn’t come out of nowhere.”
Based on Garth Risk Hallberg’s 900-page novel but relocated from the 1970s to the much grungier, sweatier 2003, the Apple TV+ series leans hard into the Indie Sleaze era. The Yeah Yeah Yeahs are on stage, LCD Soundsystem’s pulsing in the background, and Charlie’s in a Lou Reed T-shirt trying not to spiral. “I think Charlie’s coming-of-age arc is really well represented through all the crap he has to overcome,” Oleff says. “And yeah, he’s totally a Radiohead guy.”
The cast didn’t just perform chaos—they lived it, especially during a hallucinogenic sequence shot in the East Village. “It was fully a trip,” Oleff says. “We were surrounded by these crazy extras, neon lights, just… in it.” Wonders adds, “It felt like Fear and Loathing in Alphabet City.”
But City on Fire isn’t just a nostalgia bomb for fans of the Lower East Side’s last gasp before Instagram. It plays like a pre-social media fever dream, which both actors found liberating. “It makes you hate your smartphone,” Wonders laughs. “I wanted to get Sam’s burner phone and just live off that for a summer.”
Oleff, for his part, walked away with a new skill: “I know how to use a payphone now,” he deadpans. “That’s apparently helpful in 2023.”
The series hits harder thanks to its emotional core. Sam and Charlie’s relationship is messy, obsessive, possibly toxic—and magnetic. “It’s not an accident that these characters find each other,” Wonders says. “They’re both drawn to danger. There’s spontaneity and curiosity that turns into something else.”
As for the music? They both took it home with them. “Since the show, I’ve been listening to The Strokes nonstop,” Wonders says. Oleff name-checks Kid A and says “How to Disappear Completely” now triggers tears thanks to Charlie’s darkest moment. “It brings him right back,” he says, blinking.
Outside of the series, Wonders is writing a TV script of her own (shhh), while Oleff continues chasing character-driven roles. “I'm not looking for anything specific,” he says, “but if it serves the story and makes me cry a lot, I’m in.”
Now they’re both manifesting a Season 2. “Everyone I talk to says that,” Wonders says. “We’re just going to keep saying it until it happens.”
Watch the interview above and then check out the trailer below.
