Doctors often struggle with conversations about death — navigating the murky waters of when and how to convey the risks of procedures and prospects for life expectancy. When doctors are less than forthcoming, out of sensitivity or haste, difficult situations become even more complex.

On Showtime's dark comedy series, Laura Linney plays a terminally ill cancer patient. The actress's own father died from lung cancer while the series was being made; her mother was a cancer nurse at Sloan-Kettering when Linney was young. These experiences, she says, inform her performance.