Joan Allen talks about starring in ABC's 'The Family'

NEW YORK (WABC) -- Joan Allen played the mother of a missing daughter in the Oscar-nominated movie "Room", and yet again she's taking on the role of the mother of a missing child, this time a son, in ABC's "The Family."

"They are very different mothers and just the timing, you know I finished 'Room' and I got 'The Family' pilot a month later. And I remember reading it and saying to my agent, 'This is crazy,'" Allen said.

Allen portrays "Claire Warren" a mother and politician trying to keep her family and image together as she runs for office.

The return of her son Adam, who went missing 10 years ago, causes a turmoil she never expected. She is at first overjoyed with Adam's return, but the question lingers...is it really him?

Allen said it was particularly interesting and actually helpful working with two sets of "kids" playing her children on the show.

"It really helped in terms of putting my character in the mindset of it being 10 years in the past with actually having really small, a small son, and then middle school aged children," Allen said.

Family members will begin to have their suspicions, but no one more so than their neighbor who had been incarcerated for the boy's disappearance originally.

Andrew McCarthy plays "Hank Asher" who you don't know if he may have done something wrong or not as he holds a huge grudge against the family for his time behind bars.

"You will find out, and then five other questions will pop up," Allen said of the identity of Adam.

You won't want to miss the big premiere this Thursday at 9 p.m. EST on ABC, and then episode 2 will air Sunday, March 6 at 9 p.m. EST in its regular time period.

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