Widely acclaimed as one of the greatest actresses of the past 40 years, thanks to her iconic roles in the Alien and Ghostbusters franchises, as well as performances in arthouse classics like The Ice Storm and The Year Of Living Dangerously, Sigourney Weaver has now taken a starring role in Amazon’s adaptation of Australian author Holly Ringland’s novel, The Lost Flowers Of Alice Hart.

As alluded to in the title, the series has some of the flavour of VC Andrews’ ’70s horror bestseller Flowers In The Attic, eventually adapted into a movie that scared the bejaysus out of a generation of kids the following decade. Legend has it Andrews’ novel was once considered for adaptation by Stanley Kubrick, another of the great “what-ifs” in the Kubrick cinematic universe (speculating about Kubrick’s unmade projects, of course, being more fun than most actual movies).

In any case, Andrews’ style of gothic horror is detectable in Alice Hart, in which the titular character (played as a child by Alyla Browne and as an adult by Alycia Debnam-Carey) is sent to live with with her grandmother June Hart (Weaver), after her family home – where there are dark intimations of domestic violence – burns to the ground, killing her parents.

Created by Sarah Lambert, director Glendyn Ivin makes spectacular use of the stunning Australian landscape, with Weaver excelling as the icily detached June, who runs Thornfield flower farm in New South Wales, which also functions as a shelter for abused women. As the atmospheric series progresses, the tension steadily ramps up as Alice discovers more and more dark secrets about her parents and the family’s past. Eventually, she finds herself fighting for her life against a man she loves.

So what attracted Weaver to the story?

“The theme of women in risky situations,” she replies, speaking before the SAG-AGTRA strikes, “coming to a place where they could feel protected and find friendship, and support and understanding with each other. The character of June is an amazing character unlike anyone I’ve ever played before. She’s the strong, silent type, and you gradually find out the secrets of her life and her family over the course of these seven episodes.

“I was attracted by the fact that Glendyn Ivin was directing it. I’d seen Penguin Bloom, a great, great movie, so I was a big fan of his. And frankly, my husband and I – my husband’s a surfer – also really wanted to come to Australia, because we haven’t really been on publicity tours, and we had the most marvellous time.”

Although Weaver hadn’t read Ringland’s book when first sent the scripts, when the actress did eventually catch up, she found it to be a fascinating story.

“I really hadn’t ever read anything like this, this story that pulled together so many different strands of girls and women of all different ages,” she notes. “It had them enter this beautiful story of second chances and reaching safety and change. It also had so many amazing roles for women. We had just a kickass women’s cast in our show: Asher Keddie, Leah Purcell, Frankie Adams, lovely little Alyla Brown and, of course, Alycia Debnam-Carey.

“I did read the book ahead of filming and I got to meet Holly Ringland. The book is so powerful and that’s why it’s one of the best loved books in Australia. I hope that people like the series, and I hope they actually go and read the book, because the book is magical.”

Asked what makes The Lost Flowers Of Alice Hart unique, Weaver is in no doubt the show’s visual splendour will make a serious impact on viewers.

Sigourney Weaver by Glendyn Ivin

“It looks unlike anything I’ve ever seen on television,” she enthuses. “Glendyn Ivin and Sam Chiplin, our cinematographer, wanted to do something with a story, and express it in cinematic terms that were ambitious, beautiful, striking and epic. You see these amazing Australian landscapes and then these close-ups of flowers, and it’s just one of the most gorgeous things I’ve ever seen.

“It’s dramatic, so it really takes you somewhere. Also, the performances are really wonderful and they tell this tender, loving, but difficult story of Little Alice Hart, who goes to live with her grandmother because of a violent event in her life, and she’s with women from all over, who found the farm as a refuge. So these relationships, as Alice grows up between all these different women, are absolutely fascinating.

“Then Alice, of course, goes off and has her own very dramatic story, which is brilliantly told and takes place out in the middle of Australia. I didn’t get to go there, but I feel like I’ve been because it’s so beautifully captured on film.”

What did Weaver most like about playing June?

“She’s a toughy of a character,” the actress responds. “I’ve never played anyone like June. She’s this woman of incredible strength who’s very much herself. She doesn’t suffer fools – that’s an understatement. And nothing in this life surprises her, that has to do with men. Playing a character that was this guarded, careful and, of course, underneath it all frightened, was really interesting.

“I was delighted to see that, physically, I’ve never played anyone near June. She’s a big, strong woman in farm clothes, and I have to thank the costume designer and my amazing New Zealand make-up and wig stylist, Georgia Lockhart-Adams, for that. I always feel that I am the product of so many different artists. It’s such a collaboration and I feel like so many people contributed to the way I am as June, and I’m very grateful.

“It was very challenging, very hard, and we worked like demons. But we were working with each other every day and that was really great fun.”

Were there any particularly memorable moments on set?

“I had so much fun with Alyla Brown who plays little Alice,” says Weaver. “And in Australia, there are all these snakes – I mean, there are 10 of the most poisonous snakes in the world. We even had a guy with a cudgel walking around hitting the Earth to keep the snakes away. Alyla who’s extremely smart, and very much a scientist, would lecture me on how snakes and poisonous spiders were not dangerous.

“And if you have a python hanging on your doorway, never try to squeeze them. She was so funny, because you would have thought she was, like, 45 telling me to pull myself together, and not be afraid of these basic things that are around every Australian. So I had so much fun with Alyla, we had a lot of laughs. She’s just an incredible young actor and person.”

Alycia Debnam-Carey in The Lost Flowers Of Alice Hart

What does the actress hope viewers take from the series?

“I hope they see that every woman has a different story and every woman has different challenges,” she considers. “And the loneliness of these challenges is sometimes the hardest thing to bear, and when women come together, they reach out to each other very quickly. They heal each other, and welcome and celebrate each other. That has not really been portrayed on screen a lot of times, and I’m thrilled to be in a story that does it.”

Finally, what does Weaver think viewers will love most about The Lost Flowers Of Alice Hart?

“Well, there’s so many things to love about this series,” she says. “Certainly, it will take you away from wherever you live to these magical parts of Australia, which are so beautifully shot. The landscapes are so enormous and vivid, you honestly feel like you are there. The other thing is that the story of Alice Hart is so incredibly touching. Her life as a little girl with her mother and father is such an important part of the story, and then she comes to live with her grandmother, and that’s the unfolding of that chapter.

“It’s like flowers blossoming, and with each flower, you get a different part of the narrative with different meanings. It’s a fascinating and beautifully done story, which everyone you know will want to see. There’s so much to talk about, and honestly, to see again.”

• The Lost Flowers Of Alice Hart is available to stream now on Amazon.