Zazie Beetz may not work as an investigator for the US Postal Inspection Service, but it turns out she has more in common with her character in Max’s new miniseries Full Circle than I may have anticipated.

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As we chat for Little Gold Men, I realize that Beetz, who had her breakout in the hit FX series Atlanta, is as observant of people in her life as her character Melody Harmony (yes, that’s really her name) is on the show.

The series, which hits Max on July 13, follows Harmony as she attempts to investigate a botched kidnapping that has ties to a long history of corruption involving a wealthy family in New York and residents of Guyana. Harmony is sort of a mess; abrasive and combative, she seems to have some psychological troubles in her past. But she’s also brilliant at reading people and could be the one to crack the case.

“I think somebody like Melody is entertaining on the show, but I think she would be somebody very difficult to have any kind of relationship with,” says Beetz, who worked closely with the show’s writer Ed Solomon and director Steven Soderbergh in crafting the character (along with adding one specific touch to Harmony’s look herself). “It was important for me to understand how to empathize with her and to not judge her. I was able to do that because I have spent time with people who can be hard to build a relationship with, and I can see them with their full context and still approach with love and grace, to the best of my abilities.”

In the ensemble series, which also stars Claire Danes, Timothy Olyphant, Dennis Quaid, Jharrel Jerome and Jim Gaffigan, Harmony’s layers are peeled back slowly, reaching a satisfying conclusion by the end of the series. But for Beetz, who also appears in the latest season of Black Mirror as a paparazzo who is aggressively chasing down a troubled celebrity, she feels that much of her story as an actor is still unwritten, and that she hasn’t revealed her full potential as a storyteller yet. But, as she tells Little Gold Men, she’s going to make sure she has fun while she’s getting there.

Vanity Fair: You worked with Soderbergh before on No Sudden Move, but what was his pitch to bring you back for Full Circle?

Zazie Beetz: I was initially just very pleased that Steven was reaching out again at all. It’s a sign of “Okay, it worked the last time. He likes me.” But I also really enjoyed working with him. I think he has a very relaxed and playful way of approaching his work. It feels like he really wants to be there and he really trusts his actors in a great way that lets you truly just play in the sandbox he provides. And I had the chance to read the scripts and then we had a phone call. On the call he told me it was mine to lose. I just found the story compelling, and the meditation on how our actions have ripple effects and how they impact those around us, even when we don't think they do.

I had never heard of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service unit before this, so what did you have to learn about that entity?

I think it's funny because Ed is a comedy writer and so I think a lot of the show is infused with jokes like that. Not to say the U.S.P.I.S. is a joke because they're not. Mail fraud is a felony. And the life insurance fraud that was going on is where Ed drew his original inspiration from. He had read a news article about a crime syndicate in New York that was taking out life insurance claims on people and then killing them, and he then he wove this story that was way different. I think it just doesn't sound as fancy as CIA or FBI or something like that.

Harmony is clearly brilliant, especially at reading people, but she's also sort of a mess in her own life. How much of her backstory did you think about before playing her?

We came up with our own diagnosis, essentially, for her and that was also based a bit on my experience with people that I know who exhibit behavior that she exhibits and what drives people who have sort of like unreliable behavior. I talked with Steven and Ed a lot about her inner life and her insecurities. She tries to present herself as someone who is very confident and wants to take charge of a room. I think she is ambitious, but I think a lot of that is also driven by insecurity and needing validation and wanting validation. She has a hard time maintaining relationships in her life in general. She knows she's smart, and so I think she uses that as a weapon and as a tool.

I know people who do this, but like people who will exhibit sort of uncomfortable behavior or like her not always actively leaning into the emotional temperature of a room and doing that knowingly so that when a rejection happens, somebody can kind of point the finger at, “I'm rejecting that behavior, but not necessarily who you are inherently” versus if you just appear truly as an authentic self. If you are rejected, then that is a rejection of you, which I think is very scary for some people.

You mentioned sort of being inspired by people in your real life. Is that something that happens with a lot of your characters?

Certainly. I think that all of my characters are pulled from versions of myself, from versions of my reality. I don't really know how to do it any other way. I try to draw from generally as much as I can from my own experience and from the lived experience of those that I know. Sometimes I worry. I hope I don't exhaust certain parts of myself that trigger me in the future.

You also appear in the most recent season of Black Mirror. You play this paparazzo, which I found interesting since I assume you’ve had experience with them as an actor.

I have been papped a few times, but not as intensely as say, Britney Spears or anything like that. My life isn't plagued by paparazzi. It has happened to me a couple of times and, it does feel a little invasive. I think it's different if I'm at a work event and I think there's that expectation in that as a part of the job. But I do think if you're kind of just living your life privately and you're also not someone who's necessarily actively, openly sharing about their life all the time, I question whether that is truly what a public figure has asked for.

Overall, the episode is about exploitation, but I also think in some ways, particularly now [with social media], we are the paparazzi and we are also the watched and we're doing that to ourselves over and over again. In some ways everyone is the victim here and we are constantly scrutinizing one another.

It’s one of the few episodes that doesn't have that technology hook that the Black Mirror series is known for, but you're tying it to social media and where we are now.

Reading the episode, I was like, “oh it's gonna definitely be divisive.” I haven't read any reviews, but I thinkI vaguely know that I think it is divisive. But what I like about Black Mirror is that it takes risks and it is a risk to deviate from the traditional format of what people expect from you. I think it's kind of punk to try something different.

You’ve wrapped work on the Joker sequel. What do you think might surprise people who love the first one, beyond the musical elements?

I've been told I cannot say anything at all, but it's a bunch of smart people making it. I think there was a lot of skepticism about the first one, from many different angles. I remember reading the script and being so utterly convinced, like 10 pages in, I was like, “I have to do this story.” And I fought for that role.

Do you see any sort of through line to the characters you've been taking on lately?

I have to say there are a lot of things that I haven't done yet that I really want to do. Things that are also in my pipeline and we're waiting for scripts to be done or things to be bought, or things to just be officially financed. They really speak to things that matter to me and types of characters that I would love for the world to see me as. I don't think I've painted my full picture of who I think I am or my taste. I do think a lot about diversity in characters. I would love to have longevity in my career.

Also, a big thing that I've recently been thinking about is I came into acting to have fun, and because it was fun. It's really easy once you monetize your hobby to lose touch of that true fun. I think Alexander Skarsgard does such a great job. He does these dramatic, intense roles and then he does a cameo in Atlanta and is like dancing in leopard underwear. He's having a good time and it doesn't all have to be this like profound experience of human pain. The laughter and the joy and the levity of it all is also just great.

With Melody Harmony, I decided to give her a row of bottom braces, just because I thought it was interesting and I thought it was indicative of some other things about who she is and her character and what might matter to her or not. That was never written in the script. I just made that call by myself. I'm just trying to live my life and do things that I like, do things that matter to me and do things that are fun and enjoy my career the best I can. Of course, it's stressful sometimes, but I'm living my dreams and I'm blessed and I need to remember that.