is introduced in the premiere. The episode begins with a four-minute montage showing Haller's life from birth to adulthood, which Hawley felt was important to establish what the character has gone through in terms of mental illness, rather than introduce him as someone who learns he is not actually mentally ill and then moves on. Hawley explained that the montage begins with Haller as a child, showing "nothing but promise", but then his abilities manifest around when, "for some kids, the illness would be kicking in." The montage then becomes a more negative, tragic story. Hawley noted the importance of showing Haller questioning whether he has a mental illness or not during the episode, a common struggle for real people with the condition. Another montage that Haller wrote into the script was a love story montage, which he felt gives the audience "something to root for", a positive goal to balance out the darker or sadder elements of the series. Hawley described the pilot episode as having a sense of jumping from the frying pan into the fire; "architecturally, with that first hour ... you think you're in a police interview room, but then you walk out the door and it's a set that's built at the bottom of an empty swimming pool." Actor Dan Stevens said that the idea was to "rattle your perceptions" as a form of welcoming audiences to the show, so the pilot could accurately introduce viewers to the "kind of show we want to make". Hawley felt that audiences would accept the confusing storytelling of the episode, told from the perspective of the unreliable narrator Haller, due to the character's grounded love story. Casting In January 2016, Rachel Keller was cast as the female lead of the pilot, after her breakout role in Hawley's Fargo. In early February, Stevens, Aubrey Plaza, and Jean Smart were cast as Haller, his friend Lenny Busker, and therapist Melanie Bird, respectively. Also, Keller's role was revealed to be Syd Barrett. Later that month, Jeremie Harris was cast in the regular role of Ptonomy Wallace, and Amber Midthunder was cast as the savant Kerry Loudermilk. In March, Katie Aselton was cast as Haller's older sister Amy. Bill Irwin was also cast, but is not introduced until the series' second episode. Also in February 2017, David Selby announced that he would appear in three episodes of the season, portraying government agent