Aubri Ibrag Dreamt of Starring in a Period Drama—Then The Buccaneers Came Along

Not surprisingly, we’ve found ourselves invested in another corset drama. Can you really blame us, though? The romantic storylines, fancy balls, and beautiful costuming make for a guilty pleasure simply too good to resist.

The latest in a series of enticing period pieces sweeping us off our feet is The Buccaneers from Apple TV+. Based on the unfinished novel by Edith Wharton and set in 1872, the show follows a close-knit group of socialites from New York who enter London’s polite society in search of husbands and titles. The eight-part series has it all—an Anglo-American culture clash, a complicated love triangle, and a female-centric soundtrack featuring the likes of Taylor Swift and Olivia Rodrigo. Perhaps most importantly, it has a fantastic cast made up of Hollywood’s brightest young stars, which you know we love here at Who What Wear.

For newcomer Aubri Ibrag, it was a dream project that couldn’t have come at a better time. Having just signed with an American agent after wrapping the Australian series Dive Club, she had her sights set on doing a period piece next. While traveling to Los Angeles from Sydney, Ibrag was sent the script for The Buccaneers. "I feel like I manifested it in a sense,” Ibrag told WWW via Zoom last month. At the time, Ibrag was in the midst of a full-on fixation phase where all she could talk and think about were period dramas. There were no questions—she had to book this.

After Ibrag first put herself on tape for the part of Nan St. George, the producers asked her to read for Lizzy Elmsworth, which she booked a few months later. "It’s really funny because my Nan in my initial self-tape was so different from what I’m watching Kristine [Frøseth] portray on-screen,” Ibrag shared. "It’s always so amazing to see how everybody has a completely different interpretation of the same character.” 

Watching Ibrag as Lizzy, it’s hard to imagine her playing any other role. She is sensational as the eldest Elmsworth sister—striking in her beauty yet reserved in her presence. Unlike vivacious Conchita (Alisha Boe) and bold Nan (Froseth), Lizzy is quiet and observant, a rule follower who is perfectly content with being the obedient English wife. It’s not until later, after a series of unfortunate events, that we see Lizzy really come into her own and start to rebel against the oppressive expectations put on women during that time. She has arguably one of the series’ more interesting character arcs, and Ibrag delivers a fantastic performance.

Finding common ground with Lizzy came naturally for Ibrag. "She is not a girl of many words. She is quite shy, and I’m quite shy as a person, so I related to her a lot there,” she told us. "Also, this is my first really big production, and I felt very much like Lizzy moving to Scotland [to film the show] and coming into this world that I have no idea about—just like she’s moving from New York to London. Being amongst this amazing crew and actors who I have watched and have been a fan of pretty much through my teen years, I did very much feel like, ‘Oh what if I’m not good enough?’ So that was always at the top of my mind at the beginning, which I think helped me relate to Lizzy a lot.”

Ibrag also had the tall task of participating in one of the series’ more difficult scenes to watch, in which Lizzy is coerced to undress by the manipulative Lord Seadown (Barney Fishwick) as he sits silently and stares at her before eventually leaving the room. It’s worth noting that the very next day he ignores Lizzy and instead asks for her friend Jinny’s hand in marriage. The event leaves Lizzy feeling humiliated and shameful while also putting her standing for potential marriage at risk. Ibrag had nerves going into that day, as it was a big scene involving nudity and the dynamic between Lizzy and Lord Seadown had to be just right. "I was very curious to how it was going to go. … On the day when I was doing it with Barney, it just clicked. The way Seadown was saying ‘Take off your dress,’ I felt so much the power difference between Lizzy and Seadown,” she said. "It was terrifying! Barney is an amazing person, and he is so lovely, but the way he portrays Seadown is genuinely [so] terrifying that I honestly didn’t have to act or pretend to be afraid.”  

That level of authenticity extended to the core friend group too. The close bond you see between the women on-screen was also very real off-screen. It was one of those lucky instances where everyone got along. Ibrag says she and her castmates became quite close over the seven months of filming in Scotland and acted as each other’s support systems during that time. 

If the series is renewed for a second season (fingers crossed), Ibrag has fantasized about what the next chapter would look like for Lizzy. "I hope that Lizzy is able to really come into her own independence and discover that she is fine by herself and she can stand on her own two feet,” she said. "But also, I hope a wonderful man or love interest comes into her life and she can have a healthy romantic experience. I hope that can outweigh the bad experiences she’s had."

As for Ibrag’s next chapter, she’d love to work on an epic love story like Past Lives or The Notebook or even a psychological thriller, as those are the projects she really enjoys watching. She speaks it into the universe as an attempt to manifest her next role. Hey, it worked the first time! 

Catch up on all episodes of The Buccaneers, now streaming on AppleTV+. 

Photographer: Stephanie Diani

Stylist: Raz Martinez

Makeup Artist: Misha Shahzada

Hairstylist: Peter Butler