The Allentown native plays a Philadelphia police officer in the Kensington-set show based on Liz Moore's book.

This article contains spoilers for “Long Bright River,” now streaming on Peacock. Two years before Liz Moore's novel "Long Bright River" ever hit shelves in 2020 and became a bestseller - and one of Barack Obama's top books of the year - she was approached by different producers.

Even before meeting the "Long Bright River" team, Amanda Seyfried believed it was her fate to play a Philly beat cop. The star, who kicked off her career playing Karen in "Mean Girls" and Sophie in "Mamma Mia,

"We can see ourselves in each of these people, and that's the point of storytelling,” Seyfried tells PEOPLE of the show, now streaming on Peacock